Saturday, December 17, 2011
“To the Genius of Ayn Rand”
As a young high school kid, trying to learn to play the guitar, I remember reading those words on the back of a Rush album, 2112. I loved the album, but at the time, I didn’t fully understand the sentiment.
Years later, as a young musical entrepreneur, I finally got a copy of “Atlas Shrugged”, and read it. I found parts of it very inspiring. The parts, in particular, that talked about diligence, hard work, vision, and self-reliance.
There were parts of the book that didn’t ring true. Like the notion that people would sit, transfixed by their radios, as a man droned on for literally hours (chapters) about ecomonic theory. In this day and age? No way: “Who the %$^* is John Galt? Dude, what channel is ‘Jersey Shore’ on?”
Fast forward may years, and Ayn Rand has become a political figure again, galvanizing the new right right wing. Meanwhile, I’ve become a father of a boy with multiple medical issues, Cystic Fibrosis and Cerebral Palsy among them. I’m learning that when dealing with such issues, self-reliance simply isn’t an option. The costs are too astronomical.
Then, today, I read that the poster-girl for the new libertarian right actually accepted Social Security and Medicaid (read here and here), my first reaction was a cynical, “Ha! See? It gets to us all eventually!” I read the articles, and many of the vicious comments. She was slammed as a hypocrite, and as a phony. Others defended their idol, claiming that because she paid into these systems by force, she was entitled to draw from them as well.
I felt saddened, more than anything. Ayn Rand was a genius in her own way, in that she formed her ideas and shared them in a way that impacted the world. I disagree with her vision, but I do admire her nonetheless. At the end, I saw a picture of a woman who was confronted with the choice between practical reality and her ideals. In “Atlas Shrugged” she was able to create her own world, a utopia where her theories worked perfectly. But here in the real world, it doesn’t always happen that way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I saw that dedication on the album too, and I figured I ought to read some of her stuff. The dorm library had a few of her books. I picked one called "Anthem," more or less arbitrarily, since Rush had also recorded a sing by that name and I thought there might be a connection. It turns out that the story in 2112 was adapted directly from "Anthem."
ReplyDeleteLong story short: what a disappointment. The book sucked as literature; it was basically a hamfisted diatribe from the top of a wobbly soapbox. I never had the urge to read another one of her books.
I'm really only familiar with Ayn Rand through interviews, a documentary on her life, and the movie version of "the Fountianhead." Many of her ideas rang true to me, as well, but others just made me scratch my head. I was recently accused by an Ayn Rand follower of being a "collectivist," as if that were a bad name. My response was simple. I am a collectivist in that I believe in "We the people" and "a more perfect union," "the common defense" and " the general welfare."
ReplyDeleteSee, you bring up a great point, John. The Constitution is a wonderful document to use to guide our country, but it is so open to interpretation. It's there, it's our measuring ruler for our laws, but what does it really mean?
ReplyDelete