http://www.dropbox.com/s/yj6dtco4jry2f79/10-27-1934%20Ayn%20Rand%20Letter%20to%20Jean%20Wick.pdf?dl=0

The above is a link to a letter written by Ayn Rand in 1934, in regard to her forthcoming book: "We The Living". I advise you to read it. In the midst of this letter she states: "The American reader has no knowledge of it whatsoever. [Referring to life in Leningrad, shortly after Lenin came to power.] If he had---we would not have the appalling number of parlor Bolsheviks and idealistic sympathizers with the Soviet regime, liberals who would scream with horror if they knew the truth of Soviet existence."

But let me explain a portion of this letter (lest you think Rand's philosophy is uncaring) where, in about the middle, she states: "Mr. Benefield [an editor at Appleton-Century-Crofts] wonders why I stop in the last chapter to present the biography of the soldier who kills Kira Argounova. That stop, in my opinion, is one of the best things in the book.. It contains---in a few pages---the whole idea and purpose of the novel. After the reader has seen Kira Argounova, has learned what a rare, precious, irreplaceable human being she was---I give him the picture of the man who killed Kira Argounova, of the life that took her life. That soldier is a symbol, a typical representative of the average, the dull, the useless, the commonplace, the masses---that killed the best there is on this earth. I believe I made this obvious when I concluded his biography by saying---quoting from the book: "Citizen Ivan Ivanov was guarding the border of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics." Citizen Ivan Ivanov IS the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. And that Union killed Kira Argounova. Kira Argounova against citizen Ivan Ivanov---that is the whole book in a few pages."

What Rand means is that, instead of extolling the virtuous, the competent, the "ideal" (all the best there is in human nature), communism exalts the mediocre, the indifferent, the "masses"---and in this case, the immoral---

And because Communism and Socialism degrade the individual, any particular human life becomes dispensable, and thus meaningless. In that idiotology, all humans are identical. Bricks without meaning unless they are attached to other bricks.

"But you should never have taken the very best". (Quote from Robbie Robinson).

And just so you will understand, "Kira" is the Russian, feminized form of the name "Carol" (Karol--Kyrill).

It's funny how selective the right is in using Ms. Rand. Here are some other quotes:

...If devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.... the alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind.[Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged]

Qua religion, no - in the sense of blind belief, belief unsupported by, or contrary to, the facts of reality and the conclusions of reason. Faith, as such, is extremely detrimental to human life: it is the negation of reason. But you must remember that religion is an early form of philosophy, that the first attempts to explain the universe, to give a coherent frame of reference to man's life and a code of moral values, were made by religion, before men graduated or developed enough to have philosophy. And, as philosophies, some religions have very valuable moral points. They may have a good influence or proper principles to inculcate, but in a very contradictory context and, on a very - how should I say it? - dangerous or malevolent base: on the ground of faith. [Playboy interview with Ayn Rand]

Faith is the worst curse of mankind, as the exact antithesis and enemy of thought.

To rest one's case on faith means to concede that reason is on the side of one's enemies- that one has no rational arguments to offer.



Is she right? Are believers without rational thought? And if she is wrong about that, why can't she be wrong about other things she writes?

http://www.dropbox.com/s/yj6dtco4jry2f79/10-27-1934%20Ayn%20Rand%20Letter%20to%20Jean%20Wick.pdf?dl=0

The above is a link to a letter written by Ayn Rand in 1934, in regard to her forthcoming book: "We The Living". I advise you to read it. In the midst of this letter she states: "The American reader has no knowledge of it whatsoever. [Referring to life in Leningrad, shortly after Lenin came to power.] If he had---we would not have the appalling number of parlor Bolsheviks and idealistic sympathizers with the Soviet regime, liberals who would scream with horror if they knew the truth of Soviet existence."

But let me explain a portion of this letter (lest you think Rand's philosophy is uncaring) where, in about the middle, she states: "Mr. Benefield [an editor at Appleton-Century-Crofts] wonders why I stop in the last chapter to present the biography of the soldier who kills Kira Argounova. That stop, in my opinion, is one of the best things in the book.. It contains---in a few pages---the whole idea and purpose of the novel. After the reader has seen Kira Argounova, has learned what a rare, precious, irreplaceable human being she was---I give him the picture of the man who killed Kira Argounova, of the life that took her life. That soldier is a symbol, a typical representative of the average, the dull, the useless, the commonplace, the masses---that killed the best there is on this earth. I believe I made this obvious when I concluded his biography by saying---quoting from the book: "Citizen Ivan Ivanov was guarding the border of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics." Citizen Ivan Ivanov IS the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. And that Union killed Kira Argounova. Kira Argounova against citizen Ivan Ivanov---that is the whole book in a few pages."

What Rand means is that, instead of extolling the virtuous, the competent, the "ideal" (all the best there is in human nature), communism exalts the mediocre, the indifferent, the "masses"---and in this case, the immoral---

And because Communism and Socialism degrade the individual, any particular human life becomes dispensable, and thus meaningless. In that idiotology, all humans are identical. Bricks without meaning unless they are attached to other bricks.

"But you should never have taken the very best". (Quote from Robbie Robinson).

And just so you will understand, "Kira" is the Russian, feminized form of the name "Carol" (Karol--Kyrill).