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Originally Posted by knothead
The right wing wingnut Ayn Rand, the hero of some, wrote about how terrible the New Deal, social security and just about everything else the government did to aid the poor was actually collected her share of the social security and medicare she so strongly decried.
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You're a little behind the times on this one, knothead. This nonissue, and a few others that parallel it, have already been addressed on this forum -- and not just by me.
Here's where sck5 took a shot at this nonissue, taking time off his ICW journey to chime in:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/692831-post6.html
(Click on the top right corner to return to the thread this post is from so you can read a some of the replies posted in response to this sad, desperate shot.)
More surprising was the fact that jackdale, actual Ph.D and all around blocker for socialism, made the same exact bratty errors:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/692236-post41.html
(Again, click on the top right corner to return to the thread this post is from so you can read a some of the replies posted in response to this sad, desperate shot.)
You'll notice that ~90% of attacks on Rand add up to little more than misrepresentations and sad attempts at character assassination. It's very rare that anyone, civilian or intellectual, takes on the work concretized in some of the most influential and best-selling books in history. (See how she did on the joint Library of Congress - Book-of-the-Month-Club survey of the mid-'90s. She's all over that list, with
Atlas Shrugged coming in as the second most influential book in the country -- second only to the Bible.)
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A heavy smoker who refused to believe the science (sound familiar) that said that smoking kills died at last of lung cancer.
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Also not true.
She made the clear point that the best available research at the time didn't assure that smoking would lead to health issues (same is true today, BTW.). She never claimed that smoking was safe, never contradicted herself. (Remember the concept of "choice", knothead?)
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She collected her deplored social benefits not under her own name but under the name of Ann O'Connor.
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That was her legal name, knothead.
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I wonder how the strongly held positions of some others would hold up were they to face hardship.
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That depends on their integrity. But whether or not someone shows integrity has nothing to do with the validity of their points and the arguments they offer in support of those points. (Shame you don't hold the "scientists", politicians and activists obsessed with MMGW to a similar standard, knothead.)
Atlas has been shrugging for a long time now. That's why the nation's economy and culture are slowing down longterm. (The latest example is the fact that businesses of all types and sizes hold trillions of dollars in cash reserves, and yet do not invest in longterm growth.)
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but there is little doubt in my mind that Miz Rand was a hypocrite,
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Given said mind's willingness to accept the arbitrary, then defend the arbitrary no matter what facts and arguments are offered, that's not surprising.
It sure is. And yet, you missed several clear basics in your zealous pursuit of something to knock me and/or Rand with.
She is. That would be true irrespective of whether or not she lived by her philosophy, as her achievements in both fiction and in the world of ideas are staggering. Sadly for those who attack her on the grounds you've reached for, though, she actually personified her philosophy.
Can't wait for you next desperate tantrum, knothead. (You know one thing: whatever your source for this nonsense, it sets aside 101-level reasoning at the drop of a hat.)
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