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Ayn Rand: Difference between revisions
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Born Alisa Rosenbaum in Russia. She left it after it had turned communist but before Stalin took over, and she was very much anti-communist. She took it much further than most people, though.
She was already coming up with Objectivism even when her early works, ''We the Living'' and ''[[Anthem]]'', were written. But ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' was her first big success (due to word of mouth rather than advertising).
The success of ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' led to ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', a novel indisputably [[Doorstopper|capable of stopping doors]] and being used an effective lethal weapon, not that Rand would approve of that except perhaps in self-defence, and the Ayn Rand Society (which is still going).
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(Note: In recent years, left-wing critics of Rand spread a story claiming that Rand had a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] admiration of serial killer William Hickman. In reality, Rand called Hickman a [http://storeyinstitute.blogspot.com/2012/02/myths-lies-and-true-believers-why.html purposeless monster], and Hickman is only mentioned in notes for a story in which she describes the protagonist as being ''the exact opposite'' of Hickman. More commentary on this, as well as objectivist responses to other criticisms of Rand can be found [http://fvdb.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/the-left-smears-ayn-rand/ here].)
Some Americans are finding her writings especially evocative in the current economic climate (circa early 2009). Her sales are on the rise and commentators have noted it. Mind you, the sales of Karl Marx's works are also on the rise. There could be other [[
Unfortunately, given the polarizing nature of Rand's work, this page can be caught up in an [[Edit War]] from time to time. To make it clear, this page is NOT about [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|what your evaluation of Rand, her works or her ideas is]]. Any contributions should observe the [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement]].
Though her works have their own pages, it might be worthwhile to note here Ayn Rand's relationship to the [[Strawman Political]] trope. Indeed, her villains are very much [[Strawman Political|Strawman Politicals]]. For example, in ''Atlas Shrugged'', they simply want to feed off of the talent of the gifted. Ayn Rand's personal diaries note that each protagonist is planned to show either why they will succeed because of their adherence to Objectivist principles, or why they will fail because of their non-adherence, or doubt, or acceptance of anti-Objectivist principles such as Comtean altruism. These notes also compare each character to the [[Up to Eleven|Ultimate Objectivist Messiah, John Galt]]. So in essence, even her protagonists can be considered [[Strawman Political|Strawman Politicals.]]
The above is especially true for Rand's later writing. Comparison of her three novels could indicate a clear deterioration in the quality of characters representing the opposite ideology. Her first novel, "We, The Living" is very harsh on Communism as an ideology and on the Soviet regime as a regime, but it has a major character, Andrei Taganov, who is a Communist, senior member of the Party, and who is very much a Good Guy: heroic, idealistic, generous, in fact a [[Knight in Shining Armour]] and [[Bodyguard Crush|his lady's bodyguard]] - he is deeply in love with the book's female protagonist who returns his love quite a bit and is always torn between him and the other man in her life who is anti-Communist (and Rand admitted in the forward to the book that this character to a considerable degree represents herself!). In her second book, "''[[The Fountainhead]]''", the character who represents Roosevelt's New Deal, Ellsworth Toohey, is an unquestioned Bad Guy, a Man You [[Love to Hate]] - but he is a brilliant [[Chessmaster]], always spinning webs of very clever and complicated Conspiracy, in short a [[Worthy Opponent]] with whom the female protagonist has (at least in the early parts of the book) a complicated Love Hate Relationship. There is also Peter Keating, who's basically a sympathetic [[Anti-Villain]] with an equally complicated relationship with the main hero, Howard Roark. In ''"[[Atlas Shrugged]]"'' - which Rand herself considered her best, but not everybody agrees - there is nothing of the kind. All characters representing the opposing political and social point of view are miserable, disgusting nothings, who never do or say a single thing deserving of the reader's appreciation.
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=== Ayn Rand's works provide examples of: ===
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The Ferengi from ''[[Star Trek]]'' are often considered [[Space Jews|exaggerations of Jewish stereotypes]], but it would be more fair to consider them caricatures of Objectivist philosophy
== [[Music]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The philosophy of Objectivism is a strong theme in the FPS ''[[
** Not to mention the fact that Ryan is a [[Spear Counterpart]] [[Captain Ersatz]] for Rand. He's even of Russian origin, just as she was.
** FUN FACT: Whether this was intended or not, one can successfully anagram "Andrew Ryan" to say "We R Ayn Rand"
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