"The author ignores that Rand would have quite limited access to information on the whole story, for a start." She may not have had the whole story, but how mu

"The author ignores that Rand would have quite limited access to information on the whole story, for a start." She may not have had the whole story, but how much of the story did she need? Hickman's entire claim to fame was the cold blooded murder of a little girl. What nuances could Rand have been missing that could have mislead her on that point? Here's what the author of the original article had to say about Rand's knowledge of the case: The gory details of Hickman's crime were indeed reported in the newspapers of the day. (They didn't call 'em the Roaring Twenties for nothin'.) Nearly all the info I presented was taken from contemporaneous newspaper accounts. Rand followed the case closely enough to know the day-by-day events of the trial, so she surely knew what Hickman had done. She just didn't care. She mentions not one word about Hickman's 12-year-old victim in all the hundreds of words she penned about the case. If you've read Rand's journals, you know that she did present her ethical positions in detail, even when writing for herself. Objectivists typically bend themselves into pretzel-like shapes to avoid acknowledging Rand's obvious psychological problems. The facts are, Rand knew exactly what Hickman had done and admired him anyway. Make of this what you will. (The above quote is from one of the comments to this article: http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/2005/06/ad_hominem_ad_n.html http://michaelprescott.typepad.com/michael_prescotts_blog/20... ) "Rand was fascinated by what she glimpsed in the news story (namely the 'I am like the state; what's good for me is right' quote, and the mob-mentality of the public reaction), because it gave her some ideas for a work of fiction, regardless of the facts of this particular case." Even if that was all that fascinated her about Hickman (doubtful), it's quite interesting what conclusions she drew from his words: not that that kind of attitude could lead egomaniacs like Hickman to senseless murder but rather that they are ideals to be emulated and praised. "But this is where Michael Prescott has 'done the dirty' - the sentence I italicized was, if you read the whole passage from the diary, not referring specifically to this murder case" Are you kidding me? The section she wrote it in is titled "The Hickman Case", and it's clear she is talking about that case in particular from beginning to end. The entire section reinforces what she said in that quote. She said it and meant it about the Hickman case. There's no doubt about that. Read for yourself: http://books.google.com/books?id=2Gkx0STfl5kC http://books.google.com/books?id=2Gkx0STfl5kC Just search for the phrase "Hickman Case" (including the quotes).