Recommended Reading for ExJWs: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

by Jehalapeno 22 Replies latest social entertainment

• 

  Jehalapeno

  First off, this is a book you want to read. Avoid the movie franchise at all costs. Horrible movies.

  Here's why I recommend this book: its prime focus is using rational reasoning to form your life philosophy - whether that be relationships, career or faith.

  It also gives insight into the mind of someone who survived the geopolitical equivalent of the JWs - the Communist Regime of Stalin.

  The antagonists of the book are referred to as "collectivists". The Watchtower Organization's philosophy is 100% collectivist. You will see the parallels to the org when you read this book.

  The book is also surprisingly prescient in the way it describes the collectivist left and their motivations and things they struggle with.

  Has anyone else read this? What did you think? Did the book get your proverbial wheels turning? Did you hate it? Did you think it was too long, but still liked the story?
• 

  Simon

  I've seen many references to the book but haven't read it yet, something I'll maybe add to my list.
• 

  Jehalapeno

  I've seen many references to the book but haven't read it yet, something I'll maybe add to my list.

  Simon, I was actually thinking that you would be someone that would really enjoy it. Especially with your rejection of the collectivist left over the last few years.

  Some of the stuff the antagonists say in the book are almost word for word things you hear Obama, Trudeau, or Bernie say.
• 

  Biahi

  I loved her book Anthem. I’ll have to get to Atlas Shrugged.
• 

  JimmyYoung

  Shit Ayn Rand is a hack and a self called "philosopher" The book is nothing more than the rich go on strike to oppress the poor. It garbage. This woman was insane, She called smoking cigarettes "mans conquering of fire" She took a lover during her marriage and when he took a lover she melted down like the little bitch she was, She called for an end to social security and medicare and then used them when she was broke at the end of her life. She call others users for doing the very things she did. She changed her "philosophy" on many occasions to fit her actions as needed. Sound familiar? Should it is the same thing that the JWs do. She tried to hide her taking of benefits because she knew she was a hypocrite. Her so called philosophy was nothing more than a nod to greed, selfish sex crazed lust and megalomania. In her philosophy she expressed that there is no such thing as altruism, that everyone exists for their own selfish needs. Her supposed perfect economic system is Laissez faire capitalism which is a total free market no regulation. This kind of system would be so cruel where the rich could monopolize the markets and take advantage of those with less means it would eventually cause civil wars. She was one of the biggest hypocrites the world has ever seen, It was OK for her to be and adulteress but when her lover took a younger lover she went absolutely bat shit crazy. Many CEOs in the past and today lover her because her sick philosophy give them a guilt free pass to do what ever it is that is good for them-self and the rest of the world be damned.
  
• 

  road to nowhere

  It is fiction. Some people quote it like a historic document, but a story line is manipulated to fit a scenario real life has messy nuances that cant be written out.
• 

  JimmyYoung

  In the book atlas shrugged her characters are one dimensional. She was not a good writer. there were characters she held up and they were all perfect according to the story's, or characters she did not like and were all bad all the time. The characters that were Rand type thinkers were young beautiful and smart and right and rich all the time. Those in her books that were not her boot lickers were fat, stupid, lazy and ugly and can not even have enjoyable sex. She started a cult. Anyone who was not part of the cult was a user and a boil on the ass of society. In Rand's view the masses are too stupid to achieve or contribute to society. In her view democracy was destructive because these stupid masses are too dumb to vote correctly. She pushed the idea of elite dictatorship. The book A.S. where the rich and smart which are one in the same in Rand's world go on strike and run away to a new made society created in the mountains of Colorado. Then there is the 300 people die when a coal burner train goes through a tunnel and she says they deserve it for being poor and supporting the government. John Gult creates a cult in Gults Gultch and the sex is almost rape. She was a very disturbed individual.
  
• 

  JimmyYoung

  Yes the story was fiction no crap, but it reflected the very ideas Rand and her cult followers wanted to see come to pass. Its like saying Meinkampf was just some guys opinion.
  
• 

  dropoffyourkeylee

  I have read it, along with The Fountainhead. Both are thought provoking. I don’t agree with the premises of Atlas Shrugged, but I did find the book interesting and worth reading.
• 

  JimmyYoung

  I am in no way saying don't read it or any such thing. Just pointing out that Rand was a nutzo mentally ill person who had radical ideas that will not work in the real world and that she did not live by her own crazy ideology.