Hopefully my last post that has a focus on Ayn Rand

I'm done with my Ayn Rand phase. Perhaps it is Rand's ideas that shouldn't be eviscerated. They aren't so much immoral as her general contempt for progress and necessary conformity. My biggest critique of her as a person and of her character Howard Roarke in The Fountainhead is their lack of compassion for others (in the case with Howard Roarke, compassion for himself must be included to because he deliberately lived a starving-artist lifestyle in his pursuit of original architecture.

Andrew Corsello's article The Bitch Is Back from GQ magazine woke me up out of the confusion of her ideals. Her philosophy of Objectivism can hardly be modified without it doing some sort of damage. And for that matter, I played Bioshock. I should know (though no system or form of government is perfect). For anyone who reads Corsello's article, they'll be surprised to find the tidbit on Alan Greenspan. I wonder - was Rand really that big an influence on Greenspan, enough to affect his beliefs on monetary/fiscal policy? Was it because of Rand Greenspan favored a policy that was deregulatory?

After some meditation on the matter, I began to set up a model, categorizing western thought as individual-oriented and eastern thought as more collective. Is/Are individualism and/or self-reliance - shining themes back in the days of classical American literature - inferior to collectivist thought? Regardless, China is gaining on the world. Though the Chinese have migrated to all corners of the globe, it seems that some of us (such as myself) have been brought up with middle class values (and you don't have to be born and raised from the middle class for that) and taught the importance of self-reliance in the classroom, some of us by a Mr. Norman Hindley, an American literature guru 'in repose.'

Where will the world go? Will Collectivist thought dominate the world? Maybe it doesn't matter.

It's important to note that during this year, Ayn Rand's books have been circulated more through the mainstream, according to Amazon.com sales. Corsello says that The Fountainhead (and possibly also Atlas Shrugged) is well received by young readers (within their first two years of undergrad college) because she provides a safety net for their minds at a time when they are vulnerable. Well, Ayn Rand, for saving no compassion to those who didn't "get it", let me say this - fuck you.