Seth Williams

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Atlas Shrugged

by Ayn Rand

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Reading for the 2nd time

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Seth Williams said: " I believe that if you hated this book, you are largely misinterpreting it and didn’t pay attention while reading this mammoth of a novel. A previous reviewer stated how she loved the radio monologue, and I WHOLLY agree! What an amazing piece of writi I believe that if you hated this book, you are largely misinterpreting it and didn’t pay attention while reading this mammoth of a novel. A previous reviewer stated how she loved the radio monologue, and I WHOLLY agree! What an amazing piece of writing! Let me get into just some of the main reasons why this novel is NOT (and I absolutely mean it is NOT a long-winded, unapologetic stance for how the right and Republicans are totally sick bruh), but a beautifully written, dystopian novel with lots of interesting characters; the main one, being a STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST to say the least:

1. Danny Taggart knows the ins and outs of the railroad business her Grandfather “Nat” created with zero loans from his daddy!!, and ,no, she will not sit down in your office if you ask her to take a seat. She’s there to talk business and she’s out! (Something that piece of shit 2011 movie adaptation got wrong in the first 15:00 minutes.) First of all, Dagny Taggart is a female CEO in an industry run by males, yet all of the people in her industry respect her for her astounding knowledge. Does that sound like a very Republican ideal to you? A woman owning a business 50/50 with her brother and getting equal pay? Ayn Rand advocates for people who get their hands dirty and work really hard, kind of like the American middle class! Hey Venture capitalists!, stop interpreting Ayn Rand as if she were saying just because you’re rich means you’re awesome. That’s absolutely not what she was saying.

2. Being selfish does not mean that you have to be rude to others. It simply means, if you look out for “numero uno” and so does everyone else, then maybe friendly competition will make us all better. The “looters” in this novel are people like Donald Trump, who for some reason have been the people co-opting Ayn Rand’s talking points over the past decades. Donald Trump is actually more like a James Taggart type, and his sons are the Wesley Mouchs and the ! This is the greatest irony about all of this. Donald Trump sees himself as the hero of this book, Hank Rearden. When in reality, Trump is more like the wimpy, sweaty brother of Dagny who is completely inept at everything except for grifting, yet he is always looking for validation that he’s better than Hank Rearden. I only wish more people would actually read this book, and have a conversation about it.

3. Ayn Rand is not who she’s been interpreted to be since she’s passed away. She stated that the religious right was extremely dangerous to the United States, she was adamantly pro-choice, and writing a novel with such a strong, independent female protagonist was unheard of during her time! It was revolutionary! The left needs to take Ayn Rand back as one of their figureheads, from the Milton Friedman’s and Paul Ryan’s of the world, who looted one aspect of her writings, (which was her pro-capitalist sentiments) and gave it to the corporatocracy we have now.

4. Ayn Rands utopian heroes weren’t just white. She wasn’t racist. Francisco D’Anconio was Dagny’s first love and sure the guy was a wealthy millionaire or billionaire like Bruce Wayne, but he’s Argentinian. I mean Capitalists can be Argentinian too, how more diverse do you want to be? I mean don’t get me wrong, most of the protagonists are white. But this was written during a different time, I’m not going to hold a shotgun to her head for not writing in enough people of color protagonists. She had people of color as protagonists in her novel from the 50s!! Affluent people of color, but people of color nonetheless.

5. And lastly, I’m just going to say it again. Just because the people who have interpreted Atlas Shrugged as their bible, believe that their destiny should be manifested all over everyone, does not mean that they’ve interpreted her correctly. The protagonists of this novel are moral, expressive with emotion, hard-working, and respect others who also create and work hard. The protagonists are not the intellectual dark web or financial businessmen. Instead, the protagonists are the creators, and business owners whom create products and respect the workers who work hard for them like John Galt.

Anyway enough ranting. Don’t believe the hype! Read Atlas Shrugged for yourself. The utopian parts get a little sluggish for me, and I get a little sick of hearing about how handsome and muscular everyone is, but, other than that, I would say it really reads a bit like a detective novel.

Bye. ...more "

Jul 29, 2020 12:44AM · see review