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Using Ayn "Virtue of Selfishness" Rand to advertise your collaborative writing app is like using Donald Trump to advertise hair-care products.

DividesByZero 14y ago
Not least due to her dearth of writing ability.
neoveller 14y ago
Every collaborative story needs an amphetamine-driven cynic to cause a little bit of chaos.
- oulipian 14y ago
  That is not how most people are going to interpret that image. It comes across as completely clueless, since Rand is both a notoriously terrible writer and someone who would absolutely abhor the idea of collaborative writing, not to mention the idea of giving someone money.
  - neoveller 14y ago
    Though I think you may be jumping the gun on how "most people" are going to interpret 1/4th of an image, it's important to note that the full PenFM project is also built to accomodate single-author works that may or may not be the best quality writing.
fusiongyro 14y ago
And I hear you can support the capitalist system by buying shirts with Che Guevara's face on them. Or perhaps referencing equal parts Ayn Rand, Hemmingway, Poe and Cervantes might be more of an attempt to bring to mind famous authors rather than objectivism?
- oulipian 14y ago
  Sure. But it's like using a picture of a circle, a triangle, a square, and a swastika to suggest "geometric shapes".
  - fusiongyro 14y ago
    No, it's like using a picture of a circle, a triangle, a square and a swastika to suggest "famous shapes." And of course, Godwin's law and all that on you.
    - forensic 14y ago
      Why would you put a swastika on your business in any situation? Ayn Rand is for Glengary Glen Ross wannabes. Not for your typical creative writer.
      - fusiongyro 14y ago
        Unless Ayn Rand murdered a few million people on the side, her face is in no way commensurate with a swastika.
        forensic 14y ago
        Objectivism caused Goldman Sachs, Alan Greenspan, the 2008 crash, countless corporate psychopaths... The death count is more than a few million. GS alone is responsible for a famine. Have you ever been to their offices? Copies of Atlas Shrugged on every desk. Destructive ideologies that advocate fucking the poor and letting them die definitely cause deaths.
        fusiongyro 14y ago
        The logical convolutions you have to go through to make Ayn Rand into Hitler are absurd. Marxism has easily killed ten times that number, many by accident, many intentionally, yet few hold Marx personally responsible or would find his face a repugnant symbol of death. You're allowing your opinion of an ideology to turn it into nazism, but in so doing you must overlook what makes nazism unique: that it does indeed advocate murdering people simply for being different as a solution to problems—and that it actually did murder millions of people directly. Ayn Rand did not do any of that. At worst, she advanced a philosophy whose overzealous application by unscrupulous people with power led to deaths. If that's enough to make you Hitler, nearly every philosopher or novelist is, or would be if they were simply famous enough. In short: calm down. She's included in the image because her novels are in the 100 Most Influential List put out by some non-profit. Not because she was a saint.

DividesByZero 14y ago

Not least due to her dearth of writing ability.

neoveller 14y ago

Every collaborative story needs an amphetamine-driven cynic to cause a little bit of chaos.

oulipian 14y ago
That is not how most people are going to interpret that image. It comes across as completely clueless, since Rand is both a notoriously terrible writer and someone who would absolutely abhor the idea of collaborative writing, not to mention the idea of giving someone money.
- neoveller 14y ago
  Though I think you may be jumping the gun on how "most people" are going to interpret 1/4th of an image, it's important to note that the full PenFM project is also built to accomodate single-author works that may or may not be the best quality writing.

fusiongyro 14y ago

And I hear you can support the capitalist system by buying shirts with Che Guevara's face on them. Or perhaps referencing equal parts Ayn Rand, Hemmingway, Poe and Cervantes might be more of an attempt to bring to mind famous authors rather than objectivism?

oulipian 14y ago
Sure. But it's like using a picture of a circle, a triangle, a square, and a swastika to suggest "geometric shapes".
- fusiongyro 14y ago
  No, it's like using a picture of a circle, a triangle, a square and a swastika to suggest "famous shapes." And of course, Godwin's law and all that on you.
  - forensic 14y ago
    Why would you put a swastika on your business in any situation? Ayn Rand is for Glengary Glen Ross wannabes. Not for your typical creative writer.
    - fusiongyro 14y ago
      Unless Ayn Rand murdered a few million people on the side, her face is in no way commensurate with a swastika.
      - forensic 14y ago
        Objectivism caused Goldman Sachs, Alan Greenspan, the 2008 crash, countless corporate psychopaths... The death count is more than a few million. GS alone is responsible for a famine. Have you ever been to their offices? Copies of Atlas Shrugged on every desk. Destructive ideologies that advocate fucking the poor and letting them die definitely cause deaths.
        fusiongyro 14y ago
        The logical convolutions you have to go through to make Ayn Rand into Hitler are absurd. Marxism has easily killed ten times that number, many by accident, many intentionally, yet few hold Marx personally responsible or would find his face a repugnant symbol of death. You're allowing your opinion of an ideology to turn it into nazism, but in so doing you must overlook what makes nazism unique: that it does indeed advocate murdering people simply for being different as a solution to problems—and that it actually did murder millions of people directly. Ayn Rand did not do any of that. At worst, she advanced a philosophy whose overzealous application by unscrupulous people with power led to deaths. If that's enough to make you Hitler, nearly every philosopher or novelist is, or would be if they were simply famous enough. In short: calm down. She's included in the image because her novels are in the 100 Most Influential List put out by some non-profit. Not because she was a saint.