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I haven't read any of Rand's nonfiction, so correct me if I'm wrong - but I don't think she advocated violence as a means of change. Hitler and Marx both did.

I haven't read any of Rand's nonfiction, so correct me if I'm wrong - but I don't think she advocated violence as a means of change. Hitler and Marx both did. Marx advocated violent overthrow and takeover by the "dictatorship of the proletariat" - and when it was tried, it worked really, really badly, leading to much destruction and death and misery. Marxist-inspired philosophy and governance have been a wasteland of insanity and destruction... for the last 100 years, nothing else even comes close in terms of destruction. Fascism comes in a distant second. I don't think any Randian philosophy of individuality has stacked up millions of bodies in the same way, but I'm open to being corrected on that.

forensic 16y ago
Rand believes in force. Remember Ragnar Danneskjöld, the philosopher turned pirate? Rand doesn't believe force should be used to create a utopia. She believes that force should be used in self-defense when it is rational to do so - and this includes defending your property from collectivists. So basically she believes it is morally acceptable to violently defend your property from tax collectors, as long as in doing so you are not sacrificing some greater good such as your happiness and well-being.
- iwwr 16y ago
  Well, force is an underpinning of the individual. Without the ability to exert force (or to express opposition), an individual ceases to exist.
pygy_ 16y ago
I may be wrong, but I don't think that Marx advocated first blood. He thought that a peaceful revolution was possible in several countries, but anticipated a violent response from the power in place in others. Anyway, you seem to forget that a lot of violence has been conducted, if not in his name, under the guise of ideas developed by Adam Smith. How may bloody dictators have been backed, when not put in place, by the US, for economical reasons?

forensic 16y ago

Rand believes in force. Remember Ragnar Danneskjöld, the philosopher turned pirate? Rand doesn't believe force should be used to create a utopia. She believes that force should be used in self-defense when it is rational to do so - and this includes defending your property from collectivists. So basically she believes it is morally acceptable to violently defend your property from tax collectors, as long as in doing so you are not sacrificing some greater good such as your happiness and well-being.

iwwr 16y ago
Well, force is an underpinning of the individual. Without the ability to exert force (or to express opposition), an individual ceases to exist.

pygy_ 16y ago

I may be wrong, but I don't think that Marx advocated first blood. He thought that a peaceful revolution was possible in several countries, but anticipated a violent response from the power in place in others. Anyway, you seem to forget that a lot of violence has been conducted, if not in his name, under the guise of ideas developed by Adam Smith. How may bloody dictators have been backed, when not put in place, by the US, for economical reasons?