Replies to post #313946 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

The funny/sad thing about Ayn Rand is what a total hypocrite she was. She believed that social security wasn't a retirement benefit but in fact, believed it was welfare. Yet, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer later in life, she had no problem accepting Medicare and Social Security payments. That's just so typical of people with her philosophical outlook. Do as I say......

[Porgie Tirebiter]

Lol, here's my point: “Lisa Duggan does a deep dive into Ayn Rand so that we don’t have to."

So you don't have to read Ayn Rand because you can learn what you need to know about Ayn Rand by reading Lisa Duggan's book? Well, I would posit that Lisa Duggan is one of a thousand who have picked Rand's work to pieces to forward their own preconceived notions.

Rand's novels are page turners - good reads. And they inspire conversation between folks who read them because, as I said before, different people come away with different conclusions after reading and that's what makes it so great.

Same thing with other authors who have tried to define current society within the context of their own times - Charles Dickens, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, John Updike, etc. Or where (their) current society may take us - H.G. Welles, George Orwell...

Rand does both. She wasn't right or wrong, she just wrote great page turners.