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ORIGINAL: SilentSpark

OK... Please don't tell me I'm the only one who get turn on reading the Fountainhead. I mean... the idealism and art and totally dominate hero Howard Roark and his relationship with perfect sub Dominique... Even Ayn Rand herself admitted, Dominque is the woman for someone like Howard Roark (AKA perfect sub for perfect dom). Is that how you see human relationship, Ms. Rand? LOL...if nothing else, Ms Rand definitely has a huge rape fantasy, just look at the first sex scene between Roark and Dominque. and the time when Dominque went to Roarks apartment, and telling him she'll try her best to destroy him, I was completely in shock when I read it. How could something like this slipped into general public and no one scream "KINKY~~~~"

This is more kinky than cuffs and ropes and all that leather combined!!! this mental kinky~~~ I have always wondering why a strong woman like Ayn Rand end up in a long lasting relationship with some unknown actor, and from her notes I've read, she really loved him. Now that I think of it, he's probably a huge Dom!!!

OK OK... Don't get me wrong, I love the book for its idealism, for its romanticism, for the tight writing style, for the vivid characters, and the underlying philosophical ideas. But numerous people have written endless essays about it, I'm sure they can do a better job in literary analysis.

I just want to say, if there's something called "intellectual porn", this is it.

Thank you Ayn Rand~~~ haha, your book is totally genius on multiple levels, we don't have books like this nowadays... Now I'll move on to Atlas Shrugged.

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ORIGINAL: Lucienne

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ORIGINAL: SilentSpark

wow... I didn't know Rand is like that... Now I start to understand the meaning of "inner circle"... LOL... Her book is a bit too idealistic. And if you ask me, it's like Emperor's new clothes in reverse, if I say "no one can be like Howard Roark", then I'll automatically get categorized into "losers". Still, it's a fun book to read, and some of the speeches are very well written. Toohey is just so charmingly evil. Ayn Rand want to write like Victor Hugo, or at least, that's what she loved, romanticism. But compare to Hugo, her writings lack that humanitarian touch. She doesn't allow weakness or any "lesser human emotion". She saw the world in black and white absolute, and that's something I can not agree with.

If I may be so presumptuous, I'm going to tell you in advance that you do not have to read all the way through the "This is John Galt speaking" chapter. She beats that horse into glue. I think Ayn Rand is a fun read. (And Dagny is a richer character than Dominique). Her heroes and heroines typify a boldness of character and commitment to principle that many readers seek to nourish in themselves. But, as you note, her world is not the real world. And people who get too carried away by her narrative tend to misunderstand their place in the real world. Nothing wrong with a little self-indulgent fantasy, as long as you recognize that it is fantasy. So, yeah, fuck people who brand you a "loser" for realizing Howard Roark could not exist as a real human being. A guy has to be pretty hot and exceptional in other ways in order for me to tolerate an overly positive opinion of Ayn Rand.

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Reading littlewonders post begs the question : is it still a rite of passage for some percentage of college kids to go through a Rand phase? I know it was in past generations, including my own, but  would  the average college student even recognise her name, if asked? I'm guessing the higher level of education the more likely  that students would be familiar?  

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ORIGINAL: Level

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ORIGINAL: littlewonder

Everytime I hear about Ayn Rand I think of college kids who think they're all sophisticated, educated and intelligent, who think they're now part of some kind of elite group lol.....

Yeah...Ayn Rand does nothing for me and leaves me cold and bored to be honest.

That's how I feel about Noam Chomsky

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ORIGINAL: Hierodule

Having said that, the rape scene in fountainhead got me HOT! And Atlas shrugged is a utopian fantasy that is beautiful in its imposibility. Sorry Ayn, you can't have a  productive society without workers. We aren't all creative supermen, but that doesn't make us leaches!

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.  Throughout the  story her loyal assistant(I forget his name) was quizzed and unkowingly and unmercifully used by Galt. He was fiercely loyal to Dagny (also likely in unrequited love with her) and just as importantly loyal to her ideals but he was cast aside&forgotten as she flew off into the sunset with her three lovers and supermen. Relevently, Rand had little loyalty to anyone in her real life if they were the least bit in her way..

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ORIGINAL: Hierodule

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.  Throughout the  story her loyal assistant(I forget his name) was quizzed and unkowingly and unmercifully used by Galt. He was fiercely loyal to Dagny (also likely in unrequited love with her) and just as importantly loyal to her ideals but he was cast aside&forgotten as she flew off into the sunset with her three lovers and supermen. Relevently, Rand had little loyalty to anyone in her real life if they were the least bit in her way..

Yes, the end, where he is stuck in the chaos of the wilderness after all he did for her really made me sad.

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ORIGINAL: Lucienne

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ORIGINAL: Hierodule

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.  Throughout the  story her loyal assistant(I forget his name) was quizzed and unkowingly and unmercifully used by Galt. He was fiercely loyal to Dagny (also likely in unrequited love with her) and just as importantly loyal to her ideals but he was cast aside&forgotten as she flew off into the sunset with her three lovers and supermen. Relevently, Rand had little loyalty to anyone in her real life if they were the least bit in her way..

Yes, the end, where he is stuck in the chaos of the wilderness after all he did for her really made me sad.

The problem with people who get carried away with Ayn Rand is that they mistakenly assume that they would be invited to Galt's Gulch. The treatment of that character suggests otherwise. That doesn't change the fact that having a bracelet made of Reardon metal would be hot.

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ORIGINAL: Moonhead

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ORIGINAL: Lucienne

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ORIGINAL: Hierodule

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.  Throughout the  story her loyal assistant(I forget his name) was quizzed and unkowingly and unmercifully used by Galt. He was fiercely loyal to Dagny (also likely in unrequited love with her) and just as importantly loyal to her ideals but he was cast aside&forgotten as she flew off into the sunset with her three lovers and supermen. Relevently, Rand had little loyalty to anyone in her real life if they were the least bit in her way..

Yes, the end, where he is stuck in the chaos of the wilderness after all he did for her really made me sad.

The problem with people who get carried away with Ayn Rand is that they mistakenly assume that they would be invited to Galt's Gulch. The treatment of that character suggests otherwise. That doesn't change the fact that having a bracelet made of Reardon metal would be hot.

That's the problem with the libertarian mindset in a nutshell, isn't it? A lot of the people who defend it the most feverishly are the ones who are going to completely fucked over if we should revert back to feudalism.