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Liberal_in_LA

(44,397 posts)
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:22 PM Aug 2012

Has anyone in DU actually read 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand?

Just wondering. It's discussed so much but I'm the only one I know who's read it from cover to cover. It was required reading for some Econ class I took decades ago.

once a decade, I'll see a "who is John Galt" bumber sticker.


71 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
Yes, I've read it from cover to cover
30 (42%)
kinda read it, skipped over the long boring speeches
11 (15%)
skimmed it
1 (1%)
haven't read it but aware of the contents
9 (13%)
haven't read it at all
15 (21%)
Other
2 (3%)
haven't read 'Atlas Shrugged' but read 'the fountainhead' or other Rand book
3 (4%)
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Has anyone in DU actually read 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand? (Original Post) Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 OP
Read it in the 70's Xipe Totec Aug 2012 #1
Same here. A boring, dreary view of society. No redeeming qualities Hoyt Aug 2012 #12
My first big philosophical disagreement with my first GF was over the Fountainhead Xipe Totec Aug 2012 #26
Read it in the 60s Warpy Aug 2012 #102
no point datasuspect Aug 2012 #2
Some consider it important to be familiar with literature that influences others - for example Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 #6
i consider my time very valuable datasuspect Aug 2012 #18
You might be surprised mrs_p Aug 2012 #107
Exactly -- "vile and stupid. " Hoyt Aug 2012 #111
+1 Shankapotomus Aug 2012 #53
Yeah, but the Bible is entertaining ProudToBeBlueInRhody Aug 2012 #105
When a few people told me I really should read this awesome book, gkhouston Aug 2012 #3
Yes and that's many hours of my life I'll never get back catbyte Aug 2012 #17
30something years ago OriginalGeek Aug 2012 #4
50 something years ago. Same opinion. trof Aug 2012 #16
For sure OriginalGeek Aug 2012 #48
Several times, actually. Always tried to make sense of those long soliloquys, kestrel91316 Aug 2012 #5
Read it in high school as an assignment. xmas74 Aug 2012 #7
Read it and the Fountainhead as an adolescent and loved them both. cbayer Aug 2012 #8
This message was self-deleted by its author seaglass Aug 2012 #37
Dont forget to add Leon Uris to the list tibbiit Aug 2012 #47
Don't forget the complete works of Krishnamurti and Balzac's "In Search of the Absolute"! Walk away Aug 2012 #60
Yes, I admit I was fascianted with one of Uris' works - the Haj Panasonic Aug 2012 #104
Couldn't get into Hesse, but remember Castaneda very, very fondly. cbayer Aug 2012 #49
Riich on.. (being open) cilla4progress Aug 2012 #77
Read Fountainhead, then started AS and got queasy. dogknob Aug 2012 #59
Thinking back on it, I think it was the strength of the female characters that cbayer Aug 2012 #61
I tried, years ago, The Velveteen Ocelot Aug 2012 #9
DITTO Skittles Aug 2012 #14
Same here. madamesilverspurs Aug 2012 #20
+1 hifiguy Aug 2012 #54
Me as well. Lone_Star_Dem Aug 2012 #70
I opted out after 5 pages. hay rick Aug 2012 #97
I have tried numerous times, and just can't get through 50 pages Heddi Aug 2012 #10
I Read all her books riverbendviewgal Aug 2012 #11
wow. I read Atlas shrugged. started "fountainhead" but the long speeches did me in Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 #22
I can't believe you missed out on the Fountainhead...This should help! Walk away Aug 2012 #62
About 4 seconds too long. Great find. Hoyt Aug 2012 #112
Read it when I was, like, 15, in 1965 frazzled Aug 2012 #13
I never even heard of Rand or this particular title until the recent past. MrSlayer Aug 2012 #15
Is Arnold in it. ? dipsydoodle Aug 2012 #19
Read it in the 60's Progressive dog Aug 2012 #21
So did I Retrograde Aug 2012 #79
I read it almost to the end lunatica Aug 2012 #23
Got about 200 pages into it and gave up. Curtland1015 Aug 2012 #24
I read the Wikipedia article on it n/t krispos42 Aug 2012 #25
lol Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 #28
8th grade literature class Scootaloo Aug 2012 #27
Fascist propaganda about "superman" Faygo Kid Aug 2012 #29
If I didn't have a job, bills to pay and actual responsibilitites I might think about reading it. bluestateguy Aug 2012 #30
Hell, I don't have a job TexasTowelie Aug 2012 #39
When I was a teenager two books I read early alarmed me Atlas Shrugged and Mein Kampf. gordianot Aug 2012 #31
Read it in it's entirety, 3 years ago. Butterbean Aug 2012 #32
When I was 17-18 years old I read all of her fiction. Tried to pick it up not long ago and found it patrice Aug 2012 #33
I like the .. sendero Aug 2012 #34
Read it as a work of fiction, Downwinder Aug 2012 #35
I read it as a teenager and thought it was wonderful! Speck Tater Aug 2012 #36
talked to too many people caught in its idiotic circular logic. unblock Aug 2012 #38
I read it between terms at University, urged by a fellow worker, but quit 20 pages from the end. . . Journeyman Aug 2012 #40
I read it in the late 60's or early 70's graywarrior Aug 2012 #41
Maybe that's why you read it MrMickeysMom Aug 2012 #106
I've watched documentaries proud patriot Aug 2012 #42
I tried to read it. Mutt22 Aug 2012 #43
Read it a few years ago and don't see why it makes such an impression on people sammytko Aug 2012 #44
+1 mrs_p Aug 2012 #109
Sadly, I read all of them, once upon a time... MyshkinCommaPrince Aug 2012 #45
Rand eyeofnewt Aug 2012 #46
Other: saw the gawd awful movie flamingdem Aug 2012 #50
I agree with you;the movie is a campfest Tom Ripley Aug 2012 #83
Haven't read it. But I did read 'Anthem' in HS RZM Aug 2012 #51
I saw a high school friend become an insufferable, monomaniacal libertarian klook Aug 2012 #52
Or as i like to call it, "Hugless Shat" Warren DeMontague Aug 2012 #55
No one has posted my favorite video yet: Starry Messenger Aug 2012 #56
Nor mine: Shankapotomus Aug 2012 #58
No but here's The Fountainhead Guy Whitey Corngood Aug 2012 #57
I read a couple of pages when I was in 7th grade, HereSince1628 Aug 2012 #63
Best review of Atlas Shrugged ever!!! thelordofhell Aug 2012 #64
I attempted to. I never did manage to read the whole thing. PDJane Aug 2012 #65
yes ... including the 200 page monologue ... zbdent Aug 2012 #66
No. It's not that well known in the UK. LeftishBrit Aug 2012 #67
no. should i? eom ellenfl Aug 2012 #68
that's your call. Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 #120
I was given a choice for a report...... Rain Mcloud Aug 2012 #69
Thanks for telling your story. mia Aug 2012 #94
Atlas Shrugged AND The Fountainhead. Blue_In_AK Aug 2012 #71
I don't have to read Mein Kampf.... sendero Aug 2012 #72
I read everything she wrote about 15 years ago treestar Aug 2012 #73
Sure, read it and some of her others. MadrasT Aug 2012 #74
Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard Yavin4 Aug 2012 #75
+1 Johonny Aug 2012 #87
Had "Fountainhead" forced on my by Randite in High School, malthaussen Aug 2012 #76
Yes and it was awful on several levels. byeya Aug 2012 #78
Read "The Fountainhead" at the prompting of a woman I was crazy about........ A HERETIC I AM Aug 2012 #80
Did skim over it, as a friend was really into the book and other Proles Aug 2012 #81
Yes, I once was a teenager Tom Ripley Aug 2012 #82
Other... Kalidurga Aug 2012 #84
I tried, but couldn't get through it. It's fucking awful...nt SidDithers Aug 2012 #85
This was one of those books I forced myself to read LadyHawkAZ Aug 2012 #86
it was a hs graduation gift eShirl Aug 2012 #88
That is not a world I want to live in Generic Brad Aug 2012 #89
Yes ismnotwasm Aug 2012 #90
Read all of her works, Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead several times. Nt stevenleser Aug 2012 #91
Read all of Rand's books in high school, almost 40 years ago. A year in Europe Vidar Aug 2012 #92
I read it in High School to win an essay competition that I never submitted. vaberella Aug 2012 #93
I read the Ms. Magazine review of Ayn Rand years ago. That was enough for me. McCamy Taylor Aug 2012 #95
Read it in 78- I was a randian Objectivist,I'm ashamed to say. w8liftinglady Aug 2012 #96
There really should be an option for "Skimmed the Wiki entry for it". Poll_Blind Aug 2012 #98
Read it years ago. Brigid Aug 2012 #99
i was unable to finish the 1st page. pansypoo53219 Aug 2012 #100
and I was recruited KT2000 Aug 2012 #101
Why would I read that shit Panasonic Aug 2012 #103
Have read it cover to cover several times and have an autographed copy. n/t Tansy_Gold Aug 2012 #108
Kept falling asleep burrowowl Aug 2012 #110
Tried to read it a few times, but it was just so absolutely boring and pedantic Zorra Aug 2012 #113
It's a very difficult book to get through. Not because it's difficult to understand, mind you. Marr Aug 2012 #114
Started to read it in college AnnieBW Aug 2012 #115
kick eShirl Aug 2012 #116
Thanks. I'm amazed that so many DUers have read it from cover to cover. Wonder what the % Liberal_in_LA Aug 2012 #119
I read about 15-20 pages HappyMe Aug 2012 #117
Got through about 20 pages and fell asleep. hobbit709 Aug 2012 #118
 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
12. Same here. A boring, dreary view of society. No redeeming qualities
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:29 PM
Aug 2012

except as a reminder of what the greedy are like.

Xipe Totec

(44,072 posts)
26. My first big philosophical disagreement with my first GF was over the Fountainhead
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:41 PM
Aug 2012

She was (is) an architect, so she identified with the main character, Howard Roark, personally.

I was (is) left of center. So we clashed.

She's turned out to be a very nice human being, now that we've bumped int each other again after all these years.

I haven't asked her how she feels about the book now.

Perhaps I should.

 

Liberal_in_LA

(44,397 posts)
6. Some consider it important to be familiar with literature that influences others - for example
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:26 PM
Aug 2012

being familiar with the Bible even though one isn't religious.

 

datasuspect

(26,591 posts)
18. i consider my time very valuable
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:34 PM
Aug 2012

and having ammunition/understanding to be better "philosophically" grounded in having arguments with morons doesn't fall into any priority category.

put it like this, the only useful thing to be obtained from reading Ayn Rand is to understand where vile, stupid people are coming from.

there's no payoff in it.

you can't reason with them. there is no conversation to be had. they need to be marginalized the way buckley and mainstream conservatives used to marginalize them.

again, it's the same reason why i don't read romance novels: i have virtually nothing in common with people who read these books.

mrs_p

(3,078 posts)
107. You might be surprised
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:37 PM
Aug 2012

who reads romance novels, including a number of hardcore scientists I know. I (also a scientist) even pick up one or two a year. After being immersed in journal articles and experiments all day, sometimes it helps to unwind the exhausted mind before bed.

Not that you should read them, just that I bet you have more in common with other people than you think.

Shankapotomus

(4,840 posts)
53. +1
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:14 PM
Aug 2012

I've read most of Ayn Rand's titles as well as works about her (being a voracious reader through most of my 20's) and I feel better equipped to counter Objectivist philosophy in a debate than maybe I would have been otherwise. Part of the perniciousness of Objectivist philosophy is that it can throw people off balance who have never encountered it before because it makes these weird pronouncements (like selfishness is a virtue) and its practitioners emit this false, pseudo confidence. One of Objectivisms' first founders, Barbara Branden (who was later excommunicated), touched upon this in her autobiography about the Ayn Rand cult.

gkhouston

(21,642 posts)
3. When a few people told me I really should read this awesome book,
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:25 PM
Aug 2012

I took my opinion of the recommenders into account and somehow never found the time to read any of Rand's work.

catbyte

(35,856 posts)
17. Yes and that's many hours of my life I'll never get back
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:32 PM
Aug 2012

It sucked. Hard. I grew up tribal so Rand's social Darwinism was an alien and completely repulsive world view. But they say mine is an inferior culture so what do I matter?



Diane
Anishinaabe in MI

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
4. 30something years ago
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:26 PM
Aug 2012

I don't remember it being terrible as far as stories go but hindsight being better educated I see now what a crock it was. I flirted with being a Libertarian when I was in my teens but I got better.

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
5. Several times, actually. Always tried to make sense of those long soliloquys,
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:26 PM
Aug 2012

and never could. I eventually decided it was dreck.

xmas74

(29,777 posts)
7. Read it in high school as an assignment.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:27 PM
Aug 2012

It was also for preparation for an essay contest where the winner was awarded a college scholarship. In the end, I opted out of the contest. I couldn't find an original thought to write an essay about that didn't bash the book.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
8. Read it and the Fountainhead as an adolescent and loved them both.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:27 PM
Aug 2012

Reread it as an adult and had a totally different take.

Response to cbayer (Reply #8)

tibbiit

(1,601 posts)
47. Dont forget to add Leon Uris to the list
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:05 PM
Aug 2012

I read them all, Hesse, Casteneda, Rand, and had friends who were the above too. Are you me? lol I loved all those books then (1970's). Havent reread them but I dont feel the need.
they were for the past when I was young.
tib

Walk away

(9,494 posts)
60. Don't forget the complete works of Krishnamurti and Balzac's "In Search of the Absolute"!
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:21 PM
Aug 2012

And everything Swedenborg ever wrote!!! I even went to Swedenborg's church on Riverside Ave when I was a teenager.

 

Panasonic

(2,921 posts)
104. Yes, I admit I was fascianted with one of Uris' works - the Haj
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:32 PM
Aug 2012

it made for a very interesting read.

I must download it again to read it.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
49. Couldn't get into Hesse, but remember Castaneda very, very fondly.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:07 PM
Aug 2012

I also read all kinds of things and was open to just about anything.

Don't regret it one bit and should probably do more of it now.

cilla4progress

(25,958 posts)
77. Riich on.. (being open)
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:31 PM
Aug 2012

I read Shrugged, Fountainhead, and I think Anthem, in high school. My grrrl group was into them. This was circa 1970.

I found that I adopted Rand's philosophy to maximize my talents, "be all I can be," while not having it turn me libertarian or cold-hearted toward others. Was raised by very liberal - almost socialist - parents, so maybe it balanced out.

Or maybe I didn't "get" Rand as much as I might have!

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
61. Thinking back on it, I think it was the strength of the female characters that
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:23 PM
Aug 2012

seduced me.

It was late 60's and there weren't that many role models.

I read them as pure fiction, never really getting the *big message*, but I think for adolescents, the idea of absolute selfishness has a lot of appeal.

madamesilverspurs

(16,058 posts)
20. Same here.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:36 PM
Aug 2012

Tried in the 1970s so that I could converse with SIL who was in a Rand book club. Really don't remember any details, just that it was tediously strained and boring. Never found any reason to try again. Tom Robbins' books, on the other hand. . .


-

Lone_Star_Dem

(28,158 posts)
70. Me as well.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 06:08 PM
Aug 2012

I have read a cliff notes type version. It was all I could get through.

I should retry it again, since it's so often mentioned. It's just value my reading time. It's when I feed my brain and imagination, not when I poison it.

Heddi

(18,312 posts)
10. I have tried numerous times, and just can't get through 50 pages
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:28 PM
Aug 2012

Not because I'm necessarily interested in the book, but because it's one of "those" books that people always talk about, good or bad. God help me, he knows I've tried, but I just can't get into it. It still sits on my shelf...it's great for those times where I have insomnia. I get about 15 pages in and zzzzzzzz

riverbendviewgal

(4,322 posts)
11. I Read all her books
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:29 PM
Aug 2012

about 30 years ago....The last one was the virtue of selfishness.. I had to read what
some people were talking about....Not my way of thinking but you know in the Art of War
you got to know they way others who don't think like you think like.

My own mother (born to shop) told me I was weird because I used to go to my room and read.

Reading gave me the keys to doors that lead to many ideas and people and countries.

One of those forever embedded memories I have is at 8 years old walking up the steps of the library.

My father read the sports pages and my mother read the ads. I grew up in the USA.

 

MrSlayer

(22,143 posts)
15. I never even heard of Rand or this particular title until the recent past.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:29 PM
Aug 2012

And I'm pretty well read. For some reason it never crossed my radar. I have no intention to read it now.

Progressive dog

(7,245 posts)
21. Read it in the 60's
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:37 PM
Aug 2012

Also read 'The Fountainhead' and 'The Virtue of Selfishness'. Thought that I would learn something since several friends claimed Rand was a great author. Fantasies from a sick mind.

Retrograde

(10,685 posts)
79. So did I
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:34 PM
Aug 2012

I was in high school, and still young and foolish. Also read The Fountainhead. I don't remember much of the details of either.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
23. I read it almost to the end
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:38 PM
Aug 2012

Boring piece of crap that made no sense and had the driest, dreariest characters imaginable. Not a bit interesting. Why anyone would think there's some vastly brilliant message there is a real puzzle to me.

Curtland1015

(4,404 posts)
24. Got about 200 pages into it and gave up.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:38 PM
Aug 2012

...and I do not give up on books.

But this one was bad. Just dreary, long winded garbage. Ugh.

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
27. 8th grade literature class
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:42 PM
Aug 2012

End of the year report, we drew book titles out of a hat.

I got Atlas Shrugged. I remember little of what was in it, only that reading it was like eating a sandwich made of cardboard.

bluestateguy

(44,173 posts)
30. If I didn't have a job, bills to pay and actual responsibilitites I might think about reading it.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:43 PM
Aug 2012

I have to like a book a lot to read something that long.

patrice

(47,992 posts)
33. When I was 17-18 years old I read all of her fiction. Tried to pick it up not long ago and found it
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:44 PM
Aug 2012

offensively poor writing, un-readable.

unblock

(54,174 posts)
38. talked to too many people caught in its idiotic circular logic.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:50 PM
Aug 2012

why would i want to suffer through some crap like that?

give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.
teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.
tell a man true love requires me to tell you to fuck off and he'll magically figure out how to fish for himself and voila, you're a randian superhero.

yippee.

Journeyman

(15,151 posts)
40. I read it between terms at University, urged by a fellow worker, but quit 20 pages from the end. . .
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:51 PM
Aug 2012

It was interesting, I imagine especially so from the perspective of a 'true believer.' There was one passage in particular, on the nature of money and its varied uses which I found somewhat enlightening, though not compelling enough to remember. On the whole, however, I found it both pedantic and idiosyncratic, a paean to selfishness much at odds with my personal philosophies.

I abandoned it when classes began. I was at most a quarter hour from finishing, but there were more important topics in which to immerse myself. And frankly, I didn't care how it ended.

graywarrior

(59,440 posts)
41. I read it in the late 60's or early 70's
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:53 PM
Aug 2012

I forced my way through it. I hated it--it made no sense to me. Of course, I was a stoner and a drunk back then.

Mutt22

(76 posts)
43. I tried to read it.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:56 PM
Aug 2012

I found it too tediously boring. I found some other books that I actually wanted to read, gave "Atlas Shrugged" to a friend and never looked back.

sammytko

(2,480 posts)
44. Read it a few years ago and don't see why it makes such an impression on people
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 04:58 PM
Aug 2012

The one book I can read over and over again is " Grapes of Wrath".

MyshkinCommaPrince

(611 posts)
45. Sadly, I read all of them, once upon a time...
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:00 PM
Aug 2012

Every single dreary, miserable one of them, fiction and non-fiction. And believed them, with all the desperation of someone using an ideology to escape from an emotionally unacceptable reality.

Thankfully I was just a dumb kid. I could still grow past it. I got over it, I got better. I guess not everyone who goes through the Randroid phase is so lucky.

eyeofnewt

(146 posts)
46. Rand
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:02 PM
Aug 2012

Took a couple of years of philosophy and read all of Rand's writings. Atlas shrugged is the only one I remember well - wasn't influenced by Objectivism - but I do like knowing about it: man's moral purpose being his own happiness - to me explains a lot of how repubs/Tbaggers think, explains their real lack of compassion

klook

(12,898 posts)
52. I saw a high school friend become an insufferable, monomaniacal libertarian
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:14 PM
Aug 2012

after he read this book. That was enough to make me steer clear.

HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
63. I read a couple of pages when I was in 7th grade,
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:34 PM
Aug 2012

I generally enjoyed my brother's textbooks...not so with that one...after 1500 words or so and as many trips to the dictionary, I gave up.

PDJane

(10,103 posts)
65. I attempted to. I never did manage to read the whole thing.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 05:47 PM
Aug 2012

I think I managed the first chapter, five pages in the middle, and two at the end. I found nothing redeeming in any of it.

 

Rain Mcloud

(812 posts)
69. I was given a choice for a report......
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 06:05 PM
Aug 2012

Atlas Shrugged or Citizen Of The Galaxy.
Having recently discovered the magic of R.A.Heinlein,I read Troopers and returned Atlas Shrugged after the first paragraph.
Then I rechecked out Troopers and read it again and again then Stranger In A Strange Land,i was smitten,you might say my first love.
Sorry Ginny.

After hearing the report on Atlas Shrugged,i knew i made the right call.
Ayn Rand's book reminded me of some weird offshoot of socialism where richest get all the spoils and the poor kill each other to get to the head of the bread line and the bitch denigrates the poor for being poor as deviant crumb snatchers as in Les Miserable'.
Fuck that Bitch!
I remember acting out parts and making Armored Combat Suit noises during my presentation,i got an A+ for exuberance and not so much for the text as i was writing with a trembling hand and waiting for the day when I could sign up to go fight on Klendathu.

Later in High School,i was accepted into the Marine Corps and it was the proudest day of my life.
That night,i waited with pounding heart and baited breath for my dad to return home from work so I could tell him the good news.
He said,'We need to go outside and talk' and he punched me in the nose.
He said 'no son of mine is going to serve in the military and go overseas to die for some raghead in afghanistan'.
I was bitterly confused at his reaction and heart broken,i needed him to be proud of me since i was a failure at math and violin and carpentry and he was displeased at my hot rods and guitars and girlfriends and drinking,i thought he would understand.
I remember every time he would talk about his service with Gen. McArthur twice in Phillipines and the Guadal Canal and Papua New Gunea and many more retaking islands and building runways,i thought my dad was Rudyard Kipling.

He continued that when he got home from the war things had changed for the worse,where once he was a hero now he was just a wood butcher and everything he did counted for nothing.
The Korean War,he felt was McArthur's attempt at an American Imperialist Renaissance with Douglas as the Supreme Commander of the World,McCarthy was re-instating the Red Scare where dad's friends in Hollywood were accused of communistic activities when in fact they were pacifist's and more apt to follow Ghandi,Eisenhower was derided openly for his views on the military and the para-military industrial combine and ridiculed for improving the highways and canals.
He told me that no son of his would ever give his life for silk pantied elitest's who were afraid of their own shadows but whom would gladly send anyone else's kids to go and die with inferior gummed up,50 year old weapons and ammunition from the lowest bid contractor for the upper-crust's to become even richer by using American children's blood to open up new markets.

That day,right there was the proudest day of my life until my son was born.
That was the day that my dad for the first time told me that he loved me and that:"Today,You are a Man,My Son."
From there I knew that I wanted to be a father,not just like my father.

mia

(8,420 posts)
94. Thanks for telling your story.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 08:57 PM
Aug 2012

I learned so much from your sharing of these experiences with your father.

sendero

(28,552 posts)
72. I don't have to read Mein Kampf....
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 06:58 PM
Aug 2012

.... to know I fundamentally disagree with it's premise.

I'll pass on anything written by the twisted Ayn Rand.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
73. I read everything she wrote about 15 years ago
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:07 PM
Aug 2012

It has a certain internal logic. But then one realizes there is nothing in human nature that would allow the world she claimed she wanted. People will have compassion. We can't make that into a vice, as she wanted to.

MadrasT

(7,237 posts)
74. Sure, read it and some of her others.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:18 PM
Aug 2012

Thoroughly enjoyed them.

Doesn't mean I think it's a blueprint for how life should be.

Yavin4

(36,489 posts)
75. Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:23 PM
Aug 2012

Amazing how awful fiction writers have so much influence on people.

Never doubt the power of the pen.

malthaussen

(17,711 posts)
76. Had "Fountainhead" forced on my by Randite in High School,
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:24 PM
Aug 2012

... but I couldn't even finish it. Never was moved to try any of her other stuff. I am amazed at the extent of her following.

-- Mal

A HERETIC I AM

(24,592 posts)
80. Read "The Fountainhead" at the prompting of a woman I was crazy about........
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:36 PM
Aug 2012

and devoured it, so to speak. I was young and idealistic. I thought it had a lot of good ideas at the time and still do, (very narrowly) but for the most part, "Objectivism" is a flawed philosophy.

Started reading "Atlas Shrugged" but after 25 or so pages, found it so damned tedious as to be boring as bugger all.

So it collects dust to this day.

Proles

(466 posts)
81. Did skim over it, as a friend was really into the book and other
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:37 PM
Aug 2012

Ayn Rand novels.

Honestly, as much as I would "like" to understand the mindset of the right-wingers, I just don't think I could bear the tedium of actually reading hundreds of page of poorly written drivel. It's not even the ideology... it's just not a very good read.

I've read the synopsis and excerpts, so I believe I have a sufficient understanding of what it's about. The heroic "builders" of society clinging to dear life as moochers and looters (given cartoonish names and personalities), try to take everything away from them. It's basically a fantasy world with make believe protagonists, who have absolutely no flaws... they may as well be Gods. Not to mention no children in it either... hmm, I guess because they're weak -- but the book wouldn't be as popular if it was filled with helpless children clinging to survival at the expense of the wealthy.

 

Tom Ripley

(4,945 posts)
82. Yes, I once was a teenager
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:37 PM
Aug 2012

I first read "We The Living" and thought it was an okay attempt at a Russian novel,
Then I read "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" and decided that she was just not a very writer. At the time I was more offended aesthetically than morally.

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)
84. Other...
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:40 PM
Aug 2012

I read about 10 pages maybe 100's no really it was probably just over 10 pages or so. It was the worst drek I have ever read. It's sort of the Shades of Grey for conservatives and libertarians. I hated it passionately. I have never thrown a book across the room, but in a rage after being numbed from the neck up I mustered up enough strength to heave the book across the room.

This was before I knew anything about the book other than people said it was a very good book and a classic. Well I generally like reading classics. Classics are often very good books with an uplifting message or a profound warning. Perhaps this book falls in the later category, that if you are a selfish prick, odious books like Atlas Shrugged with appeal to you.

LadyHawkAZ

(6,199 posts)
86. This was one of those books I forced myself to read
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 07:44 PM
Aug 2012

just to understand the controversy. Once was enough, though.

eShirl

(18,816 posts)
88. it was a hs graduation gift
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 08:01 PM
Aug 2012

from the local video arcade owner (who was also a former police/ undercover narc)

I think I tried a couple times to read it, but it was so gawd-offal I gnawed off my eyeballs after a few pages

Vidar

(18,335 posts)
92. Read all of Rand's books in high school, almost 40 years ago. A year in Europe
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 08:26 PM
Aug 2012

(heavenly), followed by a year in Texas ( pure hell) showed me the error of my ways.

vaberella

(24,634 posts)
93. I read it in High School to win an essay competition that I never submitted.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 08:29 PM
Aug 2012

I had issues with the book. The idea of the We as being zombie-like was super prevalent. It was a romance novel though with the ideas of the We versus the I. Basically individual prowess over socialist or communistic thoughts. Sad thing is...without the we the I could never be successful.

I read the book so much I even read the edits and had subscribed to the Rand newsletter.

w8liftinglady

(23,278 posts)
96. Read it in 78- I was a randian Objectivist,I'm ashamed to say.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:06 PM
Aug 2012

fortunately,I got over that.

I tried so hard to get worked up about John Galt...but it was a pathetic self-biography.

Poll_Blind

(23,864 posts)
98. There really should be an option for "Skimmed the Wiki entry for it".
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:07 PM
Aug 2012

After reading other material about Rand and watching interviews with her, I already knew more than enough, IMO.

PB

pansypoo53219

(21,758 posts)
100. i was unable to finish the 1st page.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:20 PM
Aug 2012

i have read trash, the dictionary + extra dry, but A S was TOO AWFUL., but then i was over 10 yrs old.

KT2000

(20,879 posts)
101. and I was recruited
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 09:27 PM
Aug 2012

by some Randian cult members to join their ranks. Listened to some of the Nathaniel Branden tapes at their behest. Found them people cold, heartless and mean. Found Branden to be a smug ass. All they really want is to feel superior to everyone else on earth and make others suffer because that confirms their feelings of inferior beings.

Can't wait to see the religious right justify this one.

Zorra

(27,670 posts)
113. Tried to read it a few times, but it was just so absolutely boring and pedantic
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 10:29 PM
Aug 2012

that I gave up.

What an absolutely awful excuse for a novel.

 

Marr

(20,317 posts)
114. It's a very difficult book to get through. Not because it's difficult to understand, mind you.
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 10:33 PM
Aug 2012

You'll get the point before you're out of the preface.

It's just a horribly written, piece of shit book. One character has a monologue that's... I think it's 40-some pages...? Truly ridiculous, self-indulgent garbage.

AnnieBW

(11,289 posts)
115. Started to read it in college
Sun Aug 12, 2012, 10:39 PM
Aug 2012

It was so poorly written that I wound up throwing it across my dorm room.

 

Liberal_in_LA

(44,397 posts)
119. Thanks. I'm amazed that so many DUers have read it from cover to cover. Wonder what the %
Mon Aug 13, 2012, 05:35 PM
Aug 2012

would be in freeperland.

HappyMe

(20,277 posts)
117. I read about 15-20 pages
Mon Aug 13, 2012, 06:26 AM
Aug 2012

way back in high school. Just awful, boring tripe. A couple of months ago I was at the library and plowed through 10 pages. Again, awful, boring tripe.

hobbit709

(41,694 posts)
118. Got through about 20 pages and fell asleep.
Mon Aug 13, 2012, 06:33 AM
Aug 2012

Only book that ever did that to me. It made reading Marx exciting.

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