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Ayn Rand, it seems, didn't like that libertarians were concerned in any way with how to provide collective resources. She idealized a lack of concern with other

Ayn Rand, it seems, didn't like that libertarians were concerned in any way with how to provide collective resources. She idealized a lack of concern with others and one role model of hers was a man named William Edward Hickman who killed and dismembered a 12 year old girl. >“Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should,” she wrote, gushing that Hickman had “no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel ‘other people.’” http://exiledonline.com/atlas-shrieked-why-ayn-rands-right-wing-followers-are-scarier-than-the-manson-family-and-the-gruesome-story-of-the-serial-killer-who-stole-ayn-rands-heart/ http://exiledonline.com/atlas-shrieked-why-ayn-rands-right-w... Ayn Rand was an eloquent proponent of sociopathy.

SatvikBeri 14y ago
Well, the character she modeled was according to her "A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me." Rand certainly didn't advocate killing children. She admired one quality of Hickman's. In some ways this is actually a mature way of viewing the world. People aren't black and white-even supposed heroes like Gandhi had incredible flaws. That's not to say her philosophy was right or wrong. Rand experienced significant powerlessness and oppression during her childhood, and a lot of her ideas seem to be a reaction to what she saw and felt in Communist Russia. After having the ideals of altruism and collectivism forced on her for several years, it's hardly surprising that she would admire one someone who completely ignored societal rules. In fact, ordinary people do this all the time. Villains in movies are considered cool. Many Australian icons were basically criminals. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was enormously successful. And so on. So, it's not really fair to take a few lines out of context and conclude Rand supported sociopathy. Yes, her philosophy was centered around selfishness-but she consistently supported helping others and argued that long term self-interest and long-term societal interest end up in the same place.
- gnosis 14y ago
  Hickman kidnapped and murdered a twelve-year-old girl, cut her body in half, cut off her arms (possibly while she was still alive), and left her body for her father to find while intentionally leading her father to believe she was still alive. Don't you find it just a tad bit strange that of all the people in the world, Rand chose to worship and defend this particular man? It's not like there weren't plenty of individualists throughout history that weren't nearly as sociopathic. There's more on Rand's worship of Hickman here: http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-cold.html http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-c... She described Hickman as "born with a wonderful, free, light consciousness -- [resulting from] the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling. He does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people ... Other people do not exist for him and he does not understand why they should." Isn't that just beautiful?
miked 14y ago
Picking Rand at her youthful (23 y.o.) worst seems hardly fair. The young Rand was very much under the influence of (what she took to be) Nietzsche's thought. (Much of Rand at the beginning and end of her life was Rand not at her best, the interview being a good example.) Defining a lifetime by a single extreme is a game two can play, so let's play it. Ayn Rand was also capable of great caring and benevolence, as when she loaned money to two struggling friends (who never paid her back). See! See! That's who she really was, all else must be ignored! And since Clarence Thomas and Paul Ryan were fans of hers they too are great humanitarians! It's your ad hominem and guilt by association in reverse. Dang, this is fun! More seriously, do you really think that someone going thru the intimate details of your life couldn't find one thing to damn you with? >> Ayn Rand was an eloquent proponent of sociopathy. No, she wasn't. She was an advocate (hardly a perfect one) of human freedom and prosperity. And speaking of sociopathy , that makes her an eternal enemy of every advocate of one form of socialism or another: Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party, Slobodan Milosovic's Serbian Socialist Party, Stalin's Bolshevik Socialism, Saddam Hussein's Arabic Ba'ath Socialist Party, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge flavored socialism, Mao Tse Tung's socialism, or New York Times-endorsed Robert Mugabe's socialism ("I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.") Etc., etc., bloody etc. Mao said "Serve The People". Socialists, like the leaders mentioned above, are the people who truly care. Those who oppose them need to get a good dosing of Zyclon B, or at least a Struggle Session or three.

SatvikBeri 14y ago

Well, the character she modeled was according to her "A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me." Rand certainly didn't advocate killing children. She admired one quality of Hickman's. In some ways this is actually a mature way of viewing the world. People aren't black and white-even supposed heroes like Gandhi had incredible flaws. That's not to say her philosophy was right or wrong. Rand experienced significant powerlessness and oppression during her childhood, and a lot of her ideas seem to be a reaction to what she saw and felt in Communist Russia. After having the ideals of altruism and collectivism forced on her for several years, it's hardly surprising that she would admire one someone who completely ignored societal rules. In fact, ordinary people do this all the time. Villains in movies are considered cool. Many Australian icons were basically criminals. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was enormously successful. And so on. So, it's not really fair to take a few lines out of context and conclude Rand supported sociopathy. Yes, her philosophy was centered around selfishness-but she consistently supported helping others and argued that long term self-interest and long-term societal interest end up in the same place.

gnosis 14y ago
Hickman kidnapped and murdered a twelve-year-old girl, cut her body in half, cut off her arms (possibly while she was still alive), and left her body for her father to find while intentionally leading her father to believe she was still alive. Don't you find it just a tad bit strange that of all the people in the world, Rand chose to worship and defend this particular man? It's not like there weren't plenty of individualists throughout history that weren't nearly as sociopathic. There's more on Rand's worship of Hickman here: http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-cold.html http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/romancing-the-stone-c... She described Hickman as "born with a wonderful, free, light consciousness -- [resulting from] the absolute lack of social instinct or herd feeling. He does not understand, because he has no organ for understanding, the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people ... Other people do not exist for him and he does not understand why they should." Isn't that just beautiful?

miked 14y ago

Picking Rand at her youthful (23 y.o.) worst seems hardly fair. The young Rand was very much under the influence of (what she took to be) Nietzsche's thought. (Much of Rand at the beginning and end of her life was Rand not at her best, the interview being a good example.) Defining a lifetime by a single extreme is a game two can play, so let's play it. Ayn Rand was also capable of great caring and benevolence, as when she loaned money to two struggling friends (who never paid her back). See! See! That's who she really was, all else must be ignored! And since Clarence Thomas and Paul Ryan were fans of hers they too are great humanitarians! It's your ad hominem and guilt by association in reverse. Dang, this is fun! More seriously, do you really think that someone going thru the intimate details of your life couldn't find one thing to damn you with? >> Ayn Rand was an eloquent proponent of sociopathy. No, she wasn't. She was an advocate (hardly a perfect one) of human freedom and prosperity. And speaking of sociopathy , that makes her an eternal enemy of every advocate of one form of socialism or another: Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party, Slobodan Milosovic's Serbian Socialist Party, Stalin's Bolshevik Socialism, Saddam Hussein's Arabic Ba'ath Socialist Party, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge flavored socialism, Mao Tse Tung's socialism, or New York Times-endorsed Robert Mugabe's socialism ("I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.") Etc., etc., bloody etc. Mao said "Serve The People". Socialists, like the leaders mentioned above, are the people who truly care. Those who oppose them need to get a good dosing of Zyclon B, or at least a Struggle Session or three.