# Atlas Slapped... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951 "2002-11-02T02:47:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/1 "2002-11-02T02:47:20Z")
OK, a friend of mine urged me to read that Ayn Rand garbage (sorry) “Atlas Shrugged”. I read half, and I couldn’t take anymore of her attitude problem. (I had to go beat the wife and kids after each chapter…just kidding! 😉 (May she suffer with cancer and come down to earth a little for the rest of us…assuming she’s still alive.) Anyhoo…what was the point of that stupid question that is a common thread throughout this piece of trash? Subjectively yours, - Jinx, :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/2 "2002-11-02T03:03:12Z")
I have to assume you are over the age of twenty. Rand’s work seems to be impossible to finish for anyone who is no longer a whiney pseudo-intellectual teenager. John Galt is revealed to be the most boring speechmaker on God’s green earth. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/3 "2002-11-02T03:07:44Z")
You mean “Who is John Galt?” In real life, John Galt was a talented Scottish novelist (1779-1839) who proposed that the British sell some of the Crown lands in Canada to a colonization company to make up for the compensation claims losses of the war of 1812. The Canada Company was formed as a result; Galt became secretary and later superintendent of the company, which lasted until 1950. I suppose Ayn could have been using the question rhetorically to ask where the next self-interested leader of industry to save us in true messianic fashion from the cultural morass she believed we were in was. Hopefully a doper more familiar with the themes of her work can shed some light on the matter. She is dead, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/4 "2002-11-02T03:11:46Z")
Kudos! Well said, DrFidelius! Her “I’m rich and happy, why can’t you be?” or “peasants should be seen and not heard” attitude had to go! I could not believe Ayn Rand had the nerve to ask people to “join her cause” if they think like she does, if you can call that thinking! What a cult! Glad I’m not alone regarding her attitude problem. No, I’m not bitter… In more modern terms, I think Ayn Rand’s groupies would equate to today’s “taxes are for the little people” crowd. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/5 "2002-11-02T03:35:22Z")
All my life I have heard about **Atlas Shrugged**. So I finally started reading it last month. I am 1/3 through it. I hate it. But as much as I hate it, I figure I better _finish_ it. By the way, I really hate it. To be honest, the book sucks. Did I mention I hate it? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/6 "2002-11-02T03:54:51Z")
Do a search for my thread about reading _Atlas Sucked_. It’s a pretty bad book, but I’m glad I read it. John Galt-in the book, was some whiny industrialist superman. Who invented a perpetual motion machine and boinked the heroine. Or something. Shouldn’t this be in **Cafe Society**? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/7 "2002-11-02T04:00:46Z")
I found the book interesting, though I did skim through the 56-page John Galt speech. _The Fountainhead_ is a little better. Of course, if you want reading that’s a little easier, maybe your local elementary-school library has a copy of _Hop on Pop_. ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/8 "2002-11-02T04:13:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \*\*\* > Shouldn’t this be in **Cafe Society**? \*\* Or the Pit… ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/9 "2002-11-02T04:15:40Z")
Having read/sufferred through both, _Hop on Pop_ is an intellectual tour-de-force relative to _Atlas Shrugged_ IMNSHO ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/10 "2002-11-02T04:33:24Z")
Since this is about a book, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/11 "2002-11-02T04:55:14Z")
A thread badmouthing **Atlas Shrugged**. Gee, I have never seen that before :rolleyes: **Atlas Shrugged** has to be one of the most complained about books on internet message boards, this one being no exception. Popular book + politically slanted message = lots of rants from those not sharing that political viewpoint Of course, I have seen posts criticizing Rand’s writing abilities as well, but rarely from those sharing her political views. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/12 "2002-11-02T05:00:43Z")
You know, wishing cancer on somebody just because you don’t like their book is perhaps just a little bit, you know, WRONG!!! I mean, _seriously…_ ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/13 "2002-11-02T07:32:12Z")
Well, since this is in Cafe Society now, I guess I can venture past the OP. I, too, thought Ayn Rand was a shrill witch with a laughably cartoonish and simplistic view of capitalism and industry when I first unsuccessfully tried to burrow through through one of her books. Later, I came to the opinion that her writing wasn’t quite as onerous if understood in its historical context. Rand was born in Russia in 1905 and emigrated to the states in 1936, saw the rise of Leninist Communism in her home country, and worse, the advent of Stalinism. Her own family never learned of the success she achieved in her new homeland. Communist Russia was apparently a horror to her and represented a 180 degree perversion of how society was properly supposed to run. She may have had a slightly skewed view of the virtues of capitalism,but when you consider where she was coming from maybe she can be forgiven a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/14 "2002-11-02T07:38:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\*You know, wishing cancer on somebody just because you don’t like their book is perhaps just a little bit, you know, WRONG!!! > > I mean, _seriously…_ \*\* Yeah. Wish something more fun like herpes or syphilis. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/15 "2002-11-02T07:38:53Z")
If you’re interested, there was a thread in GD called “What was Ayn Rand’s Contribution (If Any) to Philosophy?” (or something like that). It appeared a couple months back, I think. One pithy response to that OP: “She died.” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/16 "2002-11-02T07:43:52Z")
Sorry, that should be “emigrated to the states in 1926” ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/17 "2002-11-02T08:44:39Z")
I was heavily into Ayn Rand when I was about 19. (Good call, **DrFidelius**.) Now, I’ll agree that she had some provocative ideas–I said “provocative,” not “good”–but damn, the woman couldn’t write a decent book to save her life. And her psycho fans (the ones with “Who Is John Galt?” bumperstickers) really tick me off. Minor hijack: Has anyone else noticed the correlation between Ayn Rand fans and fans of Rush (the band, not Limbaugh)? I mean no offense to Rush fans (and not much toward Randites); maybe I’ve got a skewed sample somehow. But all of the hardcore Rand devotees I’ve known have also been Rush fans of the ilk who can’t write a two-paragraph e-mail without a couple of lyrics tossed in to “back up” or “clarify” a point. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/18 "2002-11-02T13:30:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*I found the book interesting, though I did skim through the 56-page John Galt speech. > > _The Fountainhead_ is a little better.\*\* Ick. No it’s not. The relationship between whatshisname and the other architect’s daughter is weird and creepy. And Jinx? Wishing cancer on someone because you disagree with them is disgusting. Frankly, were this the Pit I’d tell you exactly how disgusting it is, but you’re not worth the effort of starting a whole thread. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/19 "2002-11-02T15:30:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crafter\_Man \* > \*\*All my life I have heard about **Atlas Shrugged**. So I finally started reading it last month. > > I am 1/3 through it. > > I hate it. > > But as much as I hate it, I figure I better _finish_ it.\*\* Do what I did. Get the **Abridged** Books-On-Tape version of the book, and listen through it during your long daily commute. (What do you mean, you don’t have a long daily commute? Don’t you know that not burning at **least** a gallon of gasoline a day is un-American? 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951/20 "2002-11-02T17:08:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FNRFR \* > **Popular book + politically slanted message = lots of rants from those not sharing that political viewpoint** More like “lots of rants from people who actually own a dictionary and thus, know the difference between selfishness and self-interest, and between altruism and fascism.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlas-slapped/134951.md?page=2)