How the Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like a Bunch of Teen Boys Gone Crazy

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/155393/how_the_ayn_rand-loving_right_is_like_a_bunch_of_teen_boys_gone_crazy/


_640x428_310x220

If, as George Lakoff says, we view politics through the metaphor of family, then Mother's Day is a good time to ask the question: Where's Mom in this picture? What are all those dirty socks and pizza boxes doing in the living room? (Seriously: it looks like a frat house in here.) Who's been drinking the beer I hid in the basement fridge?

And, sweet mother of God: how did we end up letting the 16-year-old boys take over the entire household?

Make no mistake: all this Ayn Rand libertarian me-first-and-the-rest-of-you-go-to-hell stuff -- the there's-no-government-like-no-government theology that's now being piously intoned as Holy Received Truth by everybody, male and female, in the GOP -- is, very precisely, the kind of politics you'd come up with if you were a 16-year-old boy trying to explain away his dependence on Mom.

Parents? I don't have any parents. I raised myself, on roots and berries and small vermin I dug up in vacant lots. That lady hanging around, feeding me and nagging me and picking up my socks and driving me to practice? She's just the nanny state. That bitch. I hate her.

Society? There's no such thing as society. There's only what I want right now, which is the ultimate good in my universe. And what I want right now is more time on the XBox, pizza money, and the keys to the family car.

[3waygeek]

1. This quote sums it up pretty well...

There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.

Jason Van Boom, Tikkun Daily, June 15, 2010

[DinahMoeHum]

2. The one thing Ayn Rand did right: She didn't bear any children. . .

. . . probably just as well; the "bastard children" ie. Randroids, who "grew up" reading her books are difficult enough - and probably shouldn't breed, either.

[Jamaal510]

3. .

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[MuseRider]

4. Thanks.

This really sums up a lot of it in a very interesting way. I agree.

[annabanana]

5. Hysterical article! k&r&t&f . . . .n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. And this is probably why Rand's crapola

is so popular with nerdy male college freshmen. And why intelligent people manage to outgrow it.

[Odin2005]

8. Not intelligence, emotional maturity.

There are plenty of people that are very intelligent and also very emotionally immature. Indeed, that combo fits most fanatical Libertarians.

The problem is that our society does not look down on emotional immaturity in men, anymore.

[Odin2005]

7. They are stuck at the emotional maturity of a 12yo.

[MindMover]

9. Much worse than teenage rebellion.....

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6657578499/][img][/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6657578499/]libertarianism-anarchy-for-rich-people[/url]