Now, in the spirit of this joyous holiday season, we take a break from spotlighting the craziness of Randkissing morons in order to celebrate a plainspoken Rand critic, who contributed some trenchant comments to the notorious alt.philosophy.objectivism newsgroup back in 1999. His name is Mark Thibodeau, a.k.a. "tak" and "tib," and he takes no prisoners.
But there's no need to summarize his views. Thibodeau is more than capable of speaking for himself. So, all together now, let's party like it's 1999 ...
Ouch. Tell us how you really feel, Mark!What is it that I find so annoying about Rand, her fictions, her philosophy, and the cult she has generated?
First things first...Rand herself - (and this is only my opinion, from reading her writing and seeing her on the Donahue show) I find her to be an incredibly damaged creature, an ugly toad of a woman who wished she were better looking, stronger, smarter, a better writer, whatever. She developed obvious personality disorders, including delusions of grandeur and overcompensation. Her fantasies were so important to her that she developed an entire 'philosophy' around them, and thought everyone would think them brilliant. When they didn't, she developed delusions of persecution.
As a writer - she sucked. Case closed.
As a philosopher - she wasn't. Case closed.
And her cult - the real reason I spend any time debunking Rand (check out my website and the links, I'm not going to repeat tens of thousands of words in this ng) is because of her cult. I can't stand it when I see people who don't know what they're talking about claiming so-and-so is the best whatsis. It's as if someone were to say The Monkees were the best Rock and Roll band of all time. When you encounter someone who believes such foolishness, you can react in one of two ways... you can say "Whatever, moron." and walk away (which is what most people do when they encounter Randroids), or you can try to show them where they err. That is what I have attempted to do with my website. If I can show you the error of your ways, great! If not, well, so be it. Continue believing that Rand was a great philosopher, and that she was a great novelist. Hopefully, one day, someone more skilled at deprogramming cult-members will reach you and pull you from this hideous siren'sspell...
Accused of unfairly castigating Rand's less than Cover Girl looks, Thibodeau fires back.
On another thread, Thibodeau hammers at the inconsistencies of Randians who insist on private ownership of every damn thing in the universe.I NEVER said ugliness precludes one from being a great philosopher (as a matter of fact, that sounds like something Rand would have thought up!). Rather, I said that I believe it was POSSIBLE that Rand allowed her deep-seated neurotic self-loathing to infect her world-view. Over-compensation, projection, all that jazz. When life gives you lemons, some people make lemonade. Rand turned the lemon of her ugliness into sarin nerve gas....
There is a big difference between "having a philosophy of life" (which applies to Rand) and "practicing philosophy." As far as practicing philosophy, Rand was strictly pro-am, if that. A rank amateur with, as I have stated, delusions of grandeur and persecution....
Would it help if I clarified and told you that by 'cult' I don't necessarily mean 'sect'? A Randroid is like a Trekkie, not a Scientologist. You don't pay a tithing, per se, but your lives revolve around her writings and most of you believe her shit didn't stink.
Again, RandZapper says, "Ouch." Not since we were sacrificed on the altar of Queztlcoatl have we felt such pain. (RandZapper is a revivified Aztec mummy, you know.)Did you go to an evil, altruist, collectivist school, Flashman, or are you self-educated (which wouldn't surprise me, actually)? Did you ever borrow an Ayn Rand book from an evil, altruist, collectivist library, Flashman, or do you only read books you've personally purchased? Do you drive on evil, altruist, collectivist roads, Flashman, or do you hover about from destination to destination in a beatified state of Objectivist grace? Are you mad at our evil, altruist, collectivist armies for defeating Hitler in WWII, Flashman? Do you ever use evil, altruist, collectivist water, Flashman, or do you bathe in a tub full of Evian? Do you ever flush the stinky contents of your toilet into the evil, altruist, collectivist sewer system, Flashman, or do you store your feces in mason jars for future disposal at some unspecified later date? Do you wish there were no air-traffic controllers, Flashman? Do you wish there were no health inspectors, Flashman? Do you wish there were no limits on the amount of rat droppings allowed in hot-dogs, Flashman? Does it irk you that pharmaceutical companies can't rush products to merchants' shelves before extensive testing, Flashman? Do you think state-operated policing and prison systems should be done away with in favour of private ones, and if so, who would lend assistance to those unable to afford such a luxury? I could go on for another page or so, Flashman, but I have a feeling it probably wouldn't help you to come to grips with the ridiculousness of Rand's ideas. Only time will heal that wound. ...
I just visited your home-page. You go to a STATE university??? tsk-tsk, you inconsistent little Hemorandrhoid you!
And may we just add, we love the epithet "Hemorandrhoid." As the Man in Black might have sung,
Ayn fell into a burnin' ring of fire
She went down, down, down,
And the flames rose higher
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
I wouldn't be so intrigued by Rand's fiction and "philosophy" if it weren't for the fact that so many of you hero-worshiping toadies have completely flooded the net with pro-Rand propaganda. There is a great lack of anti-Rand material on the net, and nature abhors a vacuum, so I feel I'm just doing my part by providing some alternatives.We heartily concur! (Or we would, if our heart hadn't been surgically removed during the aforementioned Aztec ritual.)
Sadly, Thibodeau's anti-Rand parody site has disappeared from the Net. But his fervent declaration of principles can proudly stand as the mission statement of RandZapper's own New Year's rockin' blog.
Happy Christmas to all (even Hemorandrhoids), and to all a good night!
