UPDATE: “AYN RAND & ATLAS SHRUGGED IN UNDER 10 MINUTES.”

[TBF]

28. I've posted the "abridged" (funny!) version before on DU -

and others have as well. There used to be a mopie.com site we could link to. If anyone has credits or knows a more recent site to link to please let me know as I did not create this, but I wish I had because it is hilarious:

Atlas Shrugged (by Ayn Rand)
ATLAS SHRUGGED: THE ABRIDGED VERSION (with spoilers)

AYN RAND:
Hello, I'm Ayn Rand. I wrote a novel based on my Objectivist philosophy called The Fountainhead, but I don't think 700 pages was quite enough to get my point across, so I will write the exact same novel, only it will take 1100 pages this time.

READERS:
Hey, great.

HEROINE:
I'm Dagny Taggart. I am a railroad tycoon, woman-in-a-man's-world, stunningly beautiful heroine. I am the only person capable of running this railroad. I am the only woman in the universe worth a damn. I am also the only woman in the universe with a real job. I am basically the only woman in this novel.

LOVE INTEREST #1:
I have worshiped you, the only woman in the universe worth a damn, from afar for my whole life.

HEROINE:
That's nice.

LOVE INTEREST #2:
I have worshiped you, the only woman in the universe worth a damn, naked on the forest floor. Yet I will nobly step aside in the name of noble idealism, despite the fact that I love you and want you, the only woman in the universe worth a damn, desperately.

HEROINE:
Okay.

LOVE INTEREST #3:
I worship you, the only woman in the universe worth a damn. Let us have creepy rape fantasy sex now. I will not ask permission to do all these kinky things to you, but luckily you want to be forced into all the kinky things, you dirty bitch.

HEROINE:
This is clearly true love! Stick it in me.

ALL:
Who is John Galt?

AYN RAND:
I am not telling. Instead, please listen to someone pontificate about my Objectivist philosophy for a while.

SOMEONE:
Pontificates

VILLAINS:
There are many of us, but we are all exactly the same. We are caricatures of evil socialists and embodiments of pure evil. Let us create a perfect socialist world order ruled by the inept! We all suck! Socialism sucks! Ha ha!

HEROES:
We are all exactly the same. We are noble and perfect and have very angular and insolent faces. We can read each other's minds and the minds of everyone else in this novel, leaving less room for misunderstanding and more room for pontificating. And we are all in love with Dagny Taggart, the only woman in the universe worth a damn.

ALL:
Who is John Galt?

VILLAIN:
Threatens hero.

HERO:
Flips coin
If it's heads, I will gaze apathetically. If it's tails, I will laugh heartily.

VILLAIN:
Although these are the only two things any of you heroes have done for the past 800 pages, I am shocked at this response! How could you! How dare you!?!

HERO:
I will now pontificate about Ayn Rand's philosophy. It has been at least 50 pages since you've heard it.

AYN RAND:
It is so convenient that all of my heroes are in perfect agreement about my philosophy so that their pontificating is so interchangeable.

ALL:
Who is John Galt?

JOHN GALT:
Hello. In this, the culmination of all the pontificating, I will explain Ayn Rand's philosophy for a full 57 pages. No, I am not kidding. This one monologue will last for 57 pages. Oh and also, I love Dagny.

DAGNY:
I love you too. Man, this is really going to suck for Love Interest #3.

LOVE INTEREST #3:
Despite my passionate love for you and enjoyment of our rape sex, and the fact that there is no other woman on earth worth a damn, and the fact that I sacrificed my life's passion on your behalf, and that I spent my entire fortune to get a divorce to be with you, I will now nobly step aside in the name of noble idealism.

DAGNY:
Great! I will miss our creepy rape sex. Farewell.

LOVE INTEREST #3:
Bye.

READER:
Wait, what?

ATLAS:
Shrugs

THE END