"whereby they could do anything they want to make as much money as they could, and as long as they gave to philanthropy, they would be regarded by the rest of society as heroes.”
Shades of Andrew Carnegie!
I was certainly an initially eager reader of Ms Rand’s works when I was in my early twenties, spurred on by my best friend who was a Tr…
"whereby they could do anything they want to make as much money as they could, and as long as they gave to philanthropy, they would be regarded by the rest of society as heroes.”
Shades of Andrew Carnegie!
I was certainly an initially eager reader of Ms Rand’s works when I was in my early twenties, spurred on by my best friend who was a True Believer in Objectivism . I myself found Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead more interminable than enlightening. And although I could see her point, as Mr Crider describes it, I could not buy it. There was just a bit too much of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch inherent in her thinking. Coming, as she did, out of the birth pangs of collectivist Russia, that thinking was. perhaps, understandable.
These modern day Silicon Valley Trumpist billionaires strike me as little more than overgrown boys, like Trump himself, still trapped in an adolescent’s distorted vision of manhood, but not actually having achieved that status either emotionally or intellectually. A bit like the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age, they are certain that they alone should be controlling the world but their vision is morally stunted and often blind to those around them or to the effects of their actions on others. This is certainly the case with Musk.
But as to Rand’s thinking, there is a well-known parallel, albeit very much shorter and very much less of the Ubermensche - Walter Lippman’s obituary/tribute to Amelia Earhart.
Never could get into Rand either (also disliked the Nietzsche Ubermensch tone)
Good points: "These modern day Silicon Valley Trumpist billionaires strike me as little more than overgrown boys, like Trump himself, still trapped in an adolescent’s distorted vision of manhood, but not actually having achieved that status either emotionally or intellectually. A bit like the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age, they are certain that they alone should be controlling the world but their vision is morally stunted"
M. and T. seem like spoiled little rich boys, all grown up? Did they never have to wash their Daddy's car? Never had to mow the lawn or shovel the driveway?
"whereby they could do anything they want to make as much money as they could, and as long as they gave to philanthropy, they would be regarded by the rest of society as heroes.”
Shades of Andrew Carnegie!
I was certainly an initially eager reader of Ms Rand’s works when I was in my early twenties, spurred on by my best friend who was a True Believer in Objectivism . I myself found Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead more interminable than enlightening. And although I could see her point, as Mr Crider describes it, I could not buy it. There was just a bit too much of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch inherent in her thinking. Coming, as she did, out of the birth pangs of collectivist Russia, that thinking was. perhaps, understandable.
These modern day Silicon Valley Trumpist billionaires strike me as little more than overgrown boys, like Trump himself, still trapped in an adolescent’s distorted vision of manhood, but not actually having achieved that status either emotionally or intellectually. A bit like the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age, they are certain that they alone should be controlling the world but their vision is morally stunted and often blind to those around them or to the effects of their actions on others. This is certainly the case with Musk.
But as to Rand’s thinking, there is a well-known parallel, albeit very much shorter and very much less of the Ubermensche - Walter Lippman’s obituary/tribute to Amelia Earhart.
Never could get into Rand either (also disliked the Nietzsche Ubermensch tone)
Good points: "These modern day Silicon Valley Trumpist billionaires strike me as little more than overgrown boys, like Trump himself, still trapped in an adolescent’s distorted vision of manhood, but not actually having achieved that status either emotionally or intellectually. A bit like the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age, they are certain that they alone should be controlling the world but their vision is morally stunted"
M. and T. seem like spoiled little rich boys, all grown up? Did they never have to wash their Daddy's car? Never had to mow the lawn or shovel the driveway?