Stopping The Trains From Running On Time
I recently saw a claim that Wesley Mouch is the chief villain of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Well, maybe. There are an awful lot of characters in the novel, and no single one stands out as the top bad guy to me. Rand spreads her disgust pretty widely. I'd say James Taggart gets more space than any of the other antagonists.
What's notable about the novel today, indeed, is when these looters and moochers get together. Rand tries to make them sound awful, and yet they sometimes sound surprisingly close to today's political dialogue.
Still, I think it's a weakness that the novel lacks an obvious top villain. (Compare to The Fountainhead.) I guess Rand is trying to say the whole suffocating system is the villain. Perhaps with so many heroes--Dagny, Galt, Ragnar, Francisco and Rearden all get a lot of play--Rand figured she could have a bunch of bad guys, too.
PS I'm reminded of the Python sketch where a guy being arrested blames society. "We're bringing them in, too."
What's notable about the novel today, indeed, is when these looters and moochers get together. Rand tries to make them sound awful, and yet they sometimes sound surprisingly close to today's political dialogue.
Still, I think it's a weakness that the novel lacks an obvious top villain. (Compare to The Fountainhead.) I guess Rand is trying to say the whole suffocating system is the villain. Perhaps with so many heroes--Dagny, Galt, Ragnar, Francisco and Rearden all get a lot of play--Rand figured she could have a bunch of bad guys, too.
PS I'm reminded of the Python sketch where a guy being arrested blames society. "We're bringing them in, too."
posted by LAGuy @ 12:12 AM
1 Comments:
Ayn Rand agreed with the TA Psychologists, that the creative and productive man and woman see themselves as “I’m OK, you’re OK.” They admire, never envy someone else’s achievement. They are the James Taggarts, patterned on James Hill. The elite, “I’m OK, you’re not OK” types see the masses as degenerate. The elite gravitate to government service and leadership roles to manage others. The man and woman of achievement could never live motivated by envy or anger toward others. America grew prosperous because of so many creative “I’m OK, you’re OK” people, who today, face rule by elite who see themselves as superior and whose task is to share or destroy what achievers built. See Save Pebble Droppers & Prosperity on Amazon and claysamerica.com
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