Monday, May 09, 2016

Objectivist Roundup

Neil Parille notes the latest ripples in the Objectivist doldrums:

One-time supporter of the Ayn Rand Institute (then later of David Kelley’s Atlas Society) businessman Ed Snider has passed away.

Someone just “published” an 11 page biography of Ayn Rand.

Ayn Rand Myths” says it’s a myth that Ayn Rand disapproved of homosexuality (because Leonard Peikoff allegedly doesn’t) and that Alan Greenspan didn’t admire Rand.

Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute, has just published “Equal is Unfair.”  A lecture by Brook on the topic is here.

7 comments:

advancedatheist said...

Ed Snider reportedly had 15 grandchildren at the time of his death.

This raises the question of whether any of these descendants considers himself an Objectivist, following the path blazed by Grandpa Ed.

If not, then a commitment to Objectivism doesn't seem to transmit generationally. If Snider couldn't impress upon his progeny the value and validity of Objectivism through a lifetime of precept and example, then probably no one can.

No wonder Rand obsessives engage in this creepy practice of trying to recruit teenagers from other people's families into their cultism; even if they produce their own children, they can't necessarily convert them successfully.

Anonymous said...

I guess that should be it's a myth that Rand did admire Greenspan.

Greenspan was one of the inner circle who signed on to Rand's attack on the Brandens, if I recall correctly. She attended his swearing in by Ford in 74/75 by which time it must have been apparent to her that he deviated from Objectivist orthodoxy.

-NP

Echo Chamber Escapee said...

That Myth site is remarkably unimpressive. Neat trick there, dispelling the "myth" that "Ayn Rand criticized homosexuals and homosexuality" by quoting Peikoff and ignoring the words we have from Rand's own mouth, where she described homosexuality as "disgusting" and "psychologically immoral."

The "myth" that "Her ideas might work for an industrialized society but not for a third world emerging economy" is dispelled with three rhetorical questions and no evidence of any kind.

But my favorite is #3 where the "myth" is "She was selfish." Wow.


Gordon Burkowski said...


@Echo Chamber Escapee:

Yes, the stuff at that "myth" site is a real embarrassment.

Especially amusing: the claim that Rand couldn't have disapproved of homosexuality - because she opposed laws against it. On the same ground, she couldn't have disapproved of viewing porno, buying sex and shooting up heroin. After all, any Objectivist would oppose laws against those things too. . .

Sam Simmons said...

Hey, maybe you can add this to the June Roundup: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/ayn-rands-demented-mind-is-best-understood-through-the-despicable-happy-ending-in-atlas-shrugged/

Eric said...

I read that little interview at Capitalism Magazine and made the cute, and I would think rather witty, reply that you "Kant reason your way to morality."

I'll give you three guesses as to what happened next.

Kit Bradley said...

That myth "debunking" site is pretty horrid, though one could say that anti-empiricism is virtually the hallmark of Randian thinking. When was the last time a follower of Rand found a fact they couldn't rationalize the opposite? It is fascinating to watch, though destructive in practice.