Atlas Shrugged: Part I and Ayn Rand's 'Philosophy'

I notice that most 'left-wing' critiques of this film (as well as most corresponding criticisms of Objectivism) fail to adequately underscore the blatant absurdity of Rand's philosophical premise —that the bourgeoisie constitutes the 'productive' class, whilst labor is nothing more than a contemptible, 'parasitic' social strata. The most basic socialist critique of capital instantly dispenses with such sophomoric claims, yet most so-called leftists throughout the West have failed to advance such a narrative in their efforts to counter this reactionary filth. It really illustrates how pervasive petit-bourgeois values have become in our societies.

Here is one of the better (yet still somewhat rhetorically deficient) critiques of Rand and Objectivism that I have been able to find since the film's release. [Note: a guest is eventually brought in to debate the issue with the show's host.]

I cannot fathom why anyone would consider the upper classes a productive class, it has always been the lower classes, in our age the working class, that feeds, builds, and protects the other classes.

Bladridigan wrote:I cannot fathom why anyone would consider the upper classes a productive class, it has always been the lower classes, in our age the working class, that feeds, builds, and protects the other classes.

The hero-worshipping and sociopathic Rand -- that odious creature -- draws her heritage from the likes of Carlyle and Nietzsche. There is no society, social bonds, social contract in her weltanschauung. The rulers are accountable only to themselves, live in an empyrean of their own, and make their own rules.

I am convinced that in the USA this vampire called Rand will never ever have a stake driven through her heart. Her spirit -- me first and the devil take the hindmost -- will survive in the United States. Each generation produces millions of lemmings who follow her egocentric lunacy.

Couldn't RT find someone more intelligent than this callow female moron? She is exactly the target readership of Rand's bilge.

Admin wrote:I notice that most 'left-wing' critiques of this film (as well as most corresponding criticisms of Objectivism) fail to adequately underscore the blatant absurdity of Rand's philosophical premise —that the bourgeoisie constitutes the 'productive' class, whilst labor is nothing more than a contemptible, 'parasitic' social strata. The most basic socialist critique of capital instantly dispenses with such sophomoric claims, yet most so-called leftists throughout the West have failed to advance such a narrative in their efforts to counter this reactionary filth. It really illustrates how pervasive petit-bourgeois values have become in our societies.

Here is one of the better (yet still somewhat rhetorically deficient) critiques of Rand and Objectivism that I have been able to find since the film's release. [Note: a guest is eventually brought in to debate the issue with the show's host.]

Objectivism is a profoundly one-dimensional and hopelessly childish daydream. Individuals who truly espouse such a "philosophy" sicken me. Despite the fact that human beings are biologically social animals, this absurd conception of the human condition would have us ignore this essential basis for existence in order to adopt a way of life that calls for the infantile stroking of the ego. This tripe is the capitalist's wet dream, as it absolves him of all responsibility and actually lauds his continued exploitation.

What of those of us who must toil under the capitalist's iron fist? What of those, constituting the vast majority, who will be born into a future with an overabundance of artificial wealth but with hardly a share of it for themselves? What of the Earth? To the wind with them according to Ayn Rand.

No, Ayn. No, libertarian twits. To hell with you lot and your vulgar rapacity. The time is long overdue for the working class to indict this corrupt system and topple the institutions which uphold it.