Political Flirting
Terri over at Kentucky’s Barefoot and Progressive once read a big book out of spite which lead her to write a great post.
Here’s the spite:
We parted ways, of course. Maybe it was the Icehouse and peppermint schnaaps. Maybe it was the women’s studies classes. We just never really clicked. No hard feelings, though. It was mutual. We tried to get back together not long after college, but I realized he was patronizing, unemployed, union-hating mooch and our split left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. But still, woman that I am, I knew the problem had to be me.
Here’s the book.
Ayn Fucking Rand. I read that bullshit in college and you’d have to be a complete moron to think that she has some insight into anything.
Oh…and I read this today and it cracked me up.
Going Galt.
Boy we sure are going to be sad when all those Republicans drop out of society. We’ll be sorry then I tell ya’!
I read that mess my last year in high school. Read a bunch of her work. Thought the novels were the living end. (The philosophy not so much). Read Atlas Shrugged again after leaving college, and was hugely embarrassed for my younger self. Hugely embarrassed that anything that horrifically written (and intellectually off of the rails) was something I had actually recommended to friends. Luckily, none of those friends thought any worse of me for one of the worst book recs I ever made.
What happened in between the first and second reading? Thomas Pynchon. Dostoevsky. Sinclair Lewis. None working anywhere near Rand’s project, but man, what a difference great writing makes.
ps. That is a great post, BTW. Thanks, nemski.
Cassandra’s got it right. Ayn Rand is book you think is profound and cool when you’re in high school, but not so much when you’re older (unless you’re Alan Greenspan).
What’s the deal with moderation? Is this something new?
Sometimes comments just get snagged.
El Somnambulo felt the same way about ‘Lord of the Flies’. Still does.
Is nothing sacred? Next thing you know someone will say “Animal Farm” wasn’t so hot.
Stages of Ayn Rand:
1. Ayn Rand is book you think is profound and cool when you’re in high school
2. Get a job.
3. … but not so much when you’re older
I think you’re right anon that it’s almost a rite of passage.