Thread by @KrisAtLarge

the turgid and dreary writings of #AynRand (hi @AynRandInst, @AynRandOrg, @RandPaul) aren't worth reading exactly, but they are worth analyzing. the difficulty is that to analyze Ayn Rand's awful prose, first you have to *read* it. we've only been able to stomach "Anthem".

(1/x)

we've seen King Vidor's film of "The Fountainhead", scripted by Ayn Rand herself. Vidor's 1940s adaptation of "The Fountainhead" is a true _film maudit_, a "cursed film": right-wing Hollywood star Barbara Stanwyck (I'm still grieving, I used to love her) wanted to make it.

(2/x)

instead we got Patricia Neal, playing off against a plank of wood named Gary Cooper—Cooper had little acting range, but he specialized in looking dour and stern on screen. he was a bit like @RonaldReagan with more panache and polish. Reagan was a lightweight in comparison.

(3/x)

Neal was unfortunately in love, and fell for two of the world's worst men‚ Roald Dahl and Gary Cooper.

her torrid affair with Cooper gives "The Fountainhead" most of its emotional energy. you're supposed to like Howard Roark chiefly because Patricia Neal throbs for him.

(4/x)

(*sighs*) "unfortunate in love". not "unfortunately".

Roark and the protagonist of Anthem (does he even have a name?) are basically the same type; Ayn Rand didn't write any other hero than this. he's a Great Man™ and for that reason, the little people all _hate_ him.

(5/x)

you know how malicious right-wing people, especially the #Christians like @pastorlocke or @dalepartridge, all love to pretend that everyone hates them because they're right about everything? this is one of the places they got the idea: #AynRand wrote about it all the time.

(6/x)

we've not read "Atlas Shrugged", which contains Rand's most *famous* Great Man™ whom everybody hates: John Galt.

#JohnGalt — not a popular hashtag.

@JohnGalt
@whois_johngalt
@GaltGhost
@WhatnextUSA ("Who is John Galt?" is their handle)

but a popular #Twitter username!

(7/x)

the film director @ZackSnyder is said to be a fan of Rand and "The Fountainhead", though I haven't heard much of that lately; possibly Snyder has (like Neil Peart of "Rush") belatedly realized that Objectivism was in fact rather silly. and it is—it's hopelessly simplistic.

(8/x)

you only really need to know one thing about Ayn Rand and her work, and that's the John Galt myth; all her other famous works are, in some way, a telling of this same story: once there was a Great Man™, a hero among mortals, but everyone hated his guts so he flounced off.

(9/x)

that's it. that's the myth.

Great Men™ are hated; when they finally get sick of being hated and run off to hide somewhere from the rabble (the way @elonmusk and possibly @mtaibbi are still hoping to escape from their crimes to #Mars), the world can't live without them.

(10/x)

the ultimate message of #AynRand is pure and simple *spite*: "you don't appreciate me, so I'm going away and THEN you'll be sorry!!" one can almost imagine little John Galt (or @RandPaul) stamping his foot and saying that to his mother when she denied him extra ice cream.

(11/x)

the ultimate act of heroism, Rand wants us to think, is punishing the world by denying them your heroism.

that's the John Galt myth and it's an appalling one. it's a denial of heroism itself.

(do you believe the John Galt myth, Mr. @jordanbpeterson? no need to answer)

(12/x)

for heroism *requires* selflessness and self-denial; doing _the right thing_, whether or not anyone praises you for it or appreciates it, is a central and defining quality of heroes.

the greatest heroes are never _spiteful_. they don't hang around waiting for applause.

(13/x)

that's not to the liking of Western society, especially #Christian society—nobody gets angrier at being denied expected praise and social approval than a right-wing American Christian. to be a @dalepartridge or @pastorlocke is to be infallibly self-centered and prideful.

(14/x)

incidentally, that's also how American *police* behave. @RonaldReagan (another false hero, a scripted stooge) and the @GOP taught us all that the cops, who are paid mercenary killers in reality, were superheroes—and they don't even meet the most basic job description.

~Chara

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