@tg9541 They get it from the “Atlas Shrugged” novels written by #Russian emigrée #AynRand (where the ‘hero’ is a character named John Galt). Her hyper-rationalist #Objectivism philosophy (#empathy is a sin) was perversely melded into the ethos of so-called fundamentalist #Christians already worshipping #prosperity in the #UnitedStates.
I saw an excellent essay on this #American phenomenon entitled “Who is #Jesus Galt?” that has since been ‘disappeared’. 
Astute takedown of the Silicon Valley villains in their own language. [The Bulwark, Substack]: Elon Musk Thinks He’s an Ayn Rand Hero. Nope: He’s One of Her Villains.
Recent years have revealed the Silicon Valley venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs who worship Rand to be racists, fraudsters, and looters. By Paul Crider, March 10, 2025
@wordshaper I’ve noticed more and more the un-Randian ideas that others attribute to #AynRand. They don’t bother to read the original sources or miss the main point because they already have their own beliefs.
@ChristosArgyrop No, they’re reparations.
And as it says in my profile, I’m not a #libertarian.
Before it comes up, let's also skip the “#AynRand hypocritically collected #SocialSecurity” bit: https://NewIdeal.AynRand.org/what-gave-ayn-rand-the-moral-right-to-collect-social-security/
Mike Mazza argues that Karl #Popper was wrong to reject scientific induction in favor of merely disproving hypotheses: https://youtu.be/ad5KEuKz1a8
Popper’s “falsificationism” claims #science differs from #religion and pseudo-science in its rational *lack* of certainty. But this only serves to undercut the rationality of science!
Lecture recorded live at #OCON 2024 on June 16 in Anaheim. Come to Boston this summer for OCON 2025! https://events.aynrand.org/ocon/
@jmcrookston I‘ve tried to listen. After 20 minutes I finally failed: just a narcissistic ego-fuckery of limping analogies — thank you, #NewYorkTimes for ennobling this NRxponent providing him with your platform. This guy’s knowledge about historic events is flat like a projection — and that’s still a compliment. #AynRand warmed after a hundreth times still smells like fermented dog shit. It says a lot about the state of #JDVance, #PeterThiel, and consorts.
@benfulton @openculture Oh, #AynRand realized there were incompetent and evil industrialists and businesspeople. Here's a list of such characters from #AtlasShrugged:
- James Taggart
- Orren Boyle
- Emma Chalmers
- Lee Hunsacker
- Paul Larkin
- Eugene Lawson
- Clifton Locey
- Gerald and Ivy Starnes
@openculture I'd rather read about #AynRand heroes than #FlanneryOConnor’s grotesque characterizations.
O'Connor, like most of her contemporaries and intellectuals since, probably didn't read Rand and instead parroted the repeated misrepresentations of a few ideological axe-grinders.
The #AynRand Institute has launched the #AtlasCircle. a collaboration between business leaders and thinkers who believe that #business is a force for good, the #profit motive is noble, and that #capitalism is the only *moral* social system.
First up in a series of actionable guidance to challenges on the “ideological battlefield”:
* Standing up to #DEI Activism: https://theatlascircle.substack.com/p/standing-up-to-dei-activism
* Open Letter to Sundar Pichai and the #Google Team (on #antitrust) https://theatlascircle.substack.com/p/open-letter-to-sundar-pichai-and
@atomicpoet I like Barbara Branden’s answer (as recounted by #AynRand) to the question: “What will happen to the poor in an #Objectivist society?”
“If *you* want to help them, you will not be stopped.”
(Rand had nothing against voluntary giving but viewed it “as a marginal issue. What [she fought] is the idea that #charity is a moral duty and a primary virtue.” https://a.co/aAXS385)
“As for the present, I am not willing to surrender the world to the jerky contortions of self-inducedly brainless bodies with empty eye sockets, who perform, in stinking basements, the immemorial rituals of staving off terror, which are a dime a dozen in any jungle—and to the quavering witch doctors who call it ‘#art.’”
When I read this, I wondered if #AynRand had been to one of my old bands’ early gigs. 
The best aspect of #Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized…
The Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only “commercial greed” could afford to give us.
One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.
—#AynRand, December 1976
@DemocracyMattersALot I'm holding the view that these companies that people say are 'obeying in advance' are not doing that. These companies are full participants in the billionaire class push to fascism, deregulation, and social isolation of the working people. Working people expect a share of the economies they participate in, and the billionaires want to squish that. #Musk #AynRand #fascism #labor
@atomicpoet “Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life.”
—Francisco d’Anconia in _Atlas Shrugged_ by #AynRand
excerpted here: https://courses.AynRand.org/works/the-meaning-of-sex/
