and another thing ...

John Galt Is A Crybaby And So Are You | The Smirking Chimp →

Ayn Rand tries desperately to stack the deck in favor of her petulant, whiny, and selfish character by having him leave the public education system at age twelve. Later he attends the “Patrick Henry University.” (“Give me liberty or give me death”? Subtlety was never Rand’s strong suit.) Even so, somebody taught him to read and write - and somebody taught them.

After school’s out our massively brilliant philosopher/engineer hero (For some reason another character’s catchphrase comes to mind: “Wile E. Coyote, super genius”) joins a car company and designs the revolutionary motor of the future. And when they collectivize the car company - because, hey, that happens all the time, right? - he stops work on his motor and goes into hiding.

(To anticipate the obvious Galtian riposte: Yes, the government temporarily ran the car companies, saving lots of jobs after your guys broke the economy. These car companies are doing great. The government rescued banks and didn’t run them. Those companies are doing badly and costing us jobs.)

So let’s recap: John Galt learned to read and write at the government’s expense. He survived childhood without dying from some mass epidemic, thanks to government public health efforts. He avoided being poisoned to death by improperly prepared foods - beef, poultry, milk - or killed by defective machinery - in a car, bus, elevator, or train, for starters - because of government regulations.

Then he got a great job with people who, like his friends and allies, enjoyed the same benefits. And when something happened he doesn’t like, he cut and ran.

Some hero.

Galt’s climactic speech is a rhapsody of self-entitled victimhood, even after Rand goes to great lengths to make him a comic-book superhero.

blog comments powered by Disqus

1. vicster reblogged this from silas216
2. imall4frogs liked this
3. koalatics reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
4. champagneofblogs reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president and added:

   NO FOR REAL YOU GUYS IF YOU JUST WISH HARD ENOUGH YOU TOO CAN EXIST IN A VACUUM. I need to start calling that book Atlas...

5. parallaxative liked this
6. i-am-already-dead reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president and added:

   THIS SHIT! All the kudos go to you for today.

7. ohmister liked this
8. embarrassingusername reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
9. reservoircat reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
10. boredboredbored reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
11. the-ghost-of-tom-joad reblogged this from withonesheartinonesmouth
12. bainer liked this
13. mustachemayhem liked this
14. ajora liked this
15. withonesheartinonesmouth reblogged this from reagan-was-a-horrible-president
16. scrollofthoth liked this
17. brotherdarkness liked this
18. reagan-was-a-horrible-president reblogged this from sarahlee310
19. joost5 liked this
20. sarahlee310 reblogged this from silas216
21. sarahlee310 liked this
22. thewomaninblac liked this
23. silas216 posted this