Canned Rand

Pretty silly piece by Johann Hari on Ayn Rand.  First he explains why her damaged life led to her sick books.  Then he misrepresents the books and their message.  Then he goes on a rant about American politics, saying a lot of what's wrong is due to people believing too much in Randian ideas.

I have no trouble with criticism of Rand.  She was pretty nutty.  She was impossible to be around (or so I've heard).  She was a leaden writer espousing outrageous ideas that, taken all the way, don't work.  I don't even think she fully understood capitalism.  But Hari, who claims to feel compassion for her (a great strategy when you're attacking someone--she's not even worth your contempt) doesn't really try to understand what she was saying or what her effect was.  Nor does he bother to defend his leftist view of America--he just assumes what he's saying is so obvious it's not worth arguing about.

Sorry I'm not giving specific details, but hey, it was just my birthday so I'm taking it easy.

PS  It's fun to find out about the personal lives of philosophers.  It helps you figure out how they got their ideas.  But it doesn't really tell you much about the quality of the ideas. (It's also very easy to make anyone's personal life look like a mess if you're so inclined.)