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Comments
Atlas Shrugged has the dubious honor of being one of about four books I've never bothered to finish. It was boring, tried to shove its politics down my throat, and by over a third of the way into it I still didn't have the foggiest what was going on. So I quit reading.
Posted by Shahanna at April 15, 2007 08:52 PM
74.193.38.42
"Ayn Rand made me hate reading!" My best friend said that when I asked him why he hated Ayn Rand so much, that and, "Anyone who reads an Ann Rand book well be a jerk for at least a week." I was kind of confused at his overwhelming contempt. I thought she must have kicked him when he was little or something, then stole his bike. ^_^
Posted by LC at April 15, 2007 09:43 PM
216.195.152.205
I'd wear it everywhere! :D
There's no laws against wearing T-shirts with bad language, after all.
Posted by Mashuren at April 15, 2007 09:51 PM
72.65.153.155
Okay, maybe not EVERYWHERE. I wouldn't wear it to church, if I went, and I wouldn't wear it if I went somewhere I knew there were going to be a bunch of kids. Which I try very hard not to do, if I can help it.
Posted by Mashuren at April 15, 2007 10:08 PM
72.65.153.155
If you need something else to break up the Rand (there's only so much selfishness-as-enlightenment I can take, personally), I just finished Myke Bartlett's "How To Disappear Completely" from Podiobooks. Reminds me of a cross of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books. Lotsa adventure, a less than linear plot, and read in an enjoyable English accent.
And if I get enough saved up by my birthday, maybe I'll be able to get Templar in paper...
Posted by Tad at April 15, 2007 10:25 PM
72.160.73.148
Atlas Shrugged is the best book I ever completely detested by the time I was done with it. As Shahanna said, there's the constant shoving of Rand's politics, such as the total intellectual dismissal of ordinary, everyday human compassion. Any character who needs any kind of help, ever, is automatically a weak and entirely worthless human being. Fortunately, none of the totally self-sufficient protagonists ever gets in a plane crash and needs to depend on other people for food, shelter, and care for their injuries. Oh wait, one does. But, see, the character completely recovers from terrible injuries (in what I recall to be a matter of weeks, not months or years) and insists on paying back what is owed, so it's all good, minus the hurt pride, I guess. For a book as painstakingly thought-out as this, that tossed-off plot point struck me as incredibly lazy and disingenuous. And it's not the only one, just the one that pissed me off the most.
I may or may not have been a jerk for a week, but it would have been because I was muttering under my breath and mentally cursing Ayn Rand, with a grumpy black cloud hanging over my head a la Ziggy.
HOWEVER. I felt it was worth reading, if for nothing more than a viewpoint different from my own, and have been considering taking it on again now, years later, as there seem to be some pretty scary parallels between the slow collapse of government in the book (due to total incompetence) and certain contemporary events. I just dunno if I want to wade through the radio address again.
Posted by stacey at April 15, 2007 10:51 PM
69.222.66.6
I'd wear it to the gym. Because they all either hate my fat ass or just don't care anyway.
Posted by twitch124 at April 16, 2007 12:13 AM
66.92.70.33
To answer your question: everywhere. All the time. Neverending.
Posted by Minka at April 16, 2007 01:06 AM
24.67.117.184
I'd wear it to the sex shop, duh. That would be my dildo-buying shirt.
Posted by Pineapple at April 16, 2007 01:11 AM
24.45.251.185
When I was 16 I dug myself in a deep hole by agreeing to write a 10 page paper on Atlas Shrugged, then put off reading the book until the week before the paper was due.
I ended up reading the entire thing in 3 days.
I honestly can't put into words how much I loath that book. Having to exsist in a world of nothing but it for three days is a lot what I expect hell would be like if it exsisted.
Posted by Mabus at April 16, 2007 02:22 AM
204.8.204.103
Where wouldn't one wear such a T-shirt?
Weddings, court appearances, child custody hearings... Any time's a good time to let the cock of science fuck you.
Personally, I'd pair it with a labcoat, and head to the singles bars.
Posted by Cylver at April 16, 2007 03:26 AM
75.5.176.80
I really liked Atlas Shrugged. I kinda skipped the 30 page speach where she restates everything that she has been talking about through out the entire book, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THAT THERE IS SOME DEEP PHILOSOPHICAL MELODRAMA GOING ON, but other than that, I liked it. Rand's got a great writing style and charaterizes like whoa. Her plots are also good. She's just, y'know, crazy in the outlook. Still worth the read.
Posted by Mars at April 16, 2007 03:57 AM
75.72.160.190
Shame im not still at uni, that would have gone down quite well with most of the people i knew (Computer course)
Failing that it could be worn to goth and fetish clubs
Posted by Neil at April 16, 2007 06:01 AM
81.178.64.95
actually, atlas shrugged is probably one of my favorite books. (though I too skipped the thirty page monologue).
no joke.
Posted by Lorrie at April 16, 2007 07:59 AM
68.154.157.169
I could never read Atlas Shrugged.
In highschool I finished the Fountainhead and as the above have mentioned, it made me a raging asshole for about a year.
Ayn Rand is *perfect* for the self-obsessed and contemptuous teenager who is (in her opinion) smarter than her peers. Objectivism gives people a guilt-free ideology to enjoy their elitism with. Oh, if I could go back and spare my friends and family from my egoist senior year... *sigh*
Relatedly, I could totally see a Templar subculture devoted to Rand...
Posted by Libby at April 16, 2007 01:12 PM
132.161.155.163
I read Atlas Shrugged in high school so I could apply for an Ayn Rand Foundation scholarship, which I didn't receive.
My only question...WHY WOULD OBJECTIVISTS GIVE SCHOLARSHIPS?
Posted by Shaenon at April 16, 2007 03:12 PM
71.139.32.105
... An Ayn Rand scholarship? Isn't that a bit like the president of an anarchy club?
Posted by Wark at April 16, 2007 06:00 PM
199.17.231.42
Personally, I would wear the LET THE COCK OF SCIENCE FUCK YOU shirt around the house.
Though, it would be funny if on the back of the shirt it said "I have a cunt of science in the back." You know, for confusing hilarity.
Posted by Cory at April 16, 2007 06:00 PM
207.237.193.132
Be sure to read Bob The Angry Flower's sequel, Atlas Shrugged II, One Hour Later:
http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif
Posted by Malex at April 16, 2007 07:04 PM
75.209.13.3
Where to wear such a shirt...
I don't know, but I would love to find out. Because I am at the moment wearing the most comfortable shirt I own. It says BEAVER HUNTER on the front.
I have yet to figure out where I can wear it other than at home while surfing the intarwebs, but I like having it.
Posted by Bethany at April 16, 2007 07:55 PM
209.251.151.26
I go to college. I'd wear it everywhere.
Also. I liked Anthem. I nearly cried from frustration halfway through The Fountainhead. I haven't touched it in a year. Oh well. I'm gonna go read some more historical fiction about Anne Boleyn.
Posted by Giovanna at April 16, 2007 11:22 PM
24.218.81.94
I would wear the t-shirt just about everywhere. Of course, not all of your demograph goes (or, went, in my case) to RHPS for several years. It would be welcome there.
You could make a killing on this shirt at cons. I'm telling you, people would buy this shirt.
...Oh yeah. Tried to read the Fountainhead. Could not get through it because I had no idea what was going on. Same with Atlas Shrugged. To be fair both of these books were heavy reading in 9th grader.
Posted by JPCrim at April 17, 2007 12:26 AM
24.6.171.231
Science t-shirt was cruel. I laughed a lot
Posted by Cleaner at April 17, 2007 06:30 AM
149.9.0.56
i liked Atlas Shrugged as well, but then i took the audiobook route also AND it was during a 16-hour road trip, so maybe i had to. maybe because it coincided with some pretty stunning scenery (courtesy of Highway 301), i managed to avoid the dreaded assholery that often results. i did read (not audiobook'd) The Fountainhead recently and for actual reading, that one's much more enjoyable. shorter and not nearly so self-righteous (tho, still, it's RAND. self-righteousness abounds).
Posted by miss lila at April 17, 2007 10:18 AM
70.126.193.169
i actually really liked Atlas Shrugged. I really looked at it like a superhero story, where a few gifted individuals attempt to change the world.
Posted by marvelous patric at April 17, 2007 11:14 AM
66.242.95.127
I liked Atlas Shrugged all right as a 15 year old. I was a smart kid stuck in the hinterlands and enjoyed the whole "too smart for his own good" thread. A few years later, though, I finally got what the book was supposed to be about and was horrified.
And then there's the eroticized rape stuff. Cause, you know, he *knows* what she *wants*. He's a genius. And they get to f**k whoever they damn well please.
Posted by AH at April 17, 2007 03:31 PM
66.25.164.185
In the first panel, Raygun has a brand new cigarette/cigarillo.
In the bottom left panel, it's half smoked.
In the bottom right panel, it's brand new again.
She's either a chain smoker and is lighting up when we can't see her doing it, or her cigarettes are MAGIC.
I'm inclined to believe the latter.
Posted by Jeff at April 17, 2007 05:48 PM
67.171.68.131
My girlfriend wants a "Cock of Science" shirt. Please make them! By the way, college classes make a perfect place to wear one.
Posted by Dredfox at April 17, 2007 11:15 PM
75.43.42.201
Will there be a picture of the box of said "Science Cock " on the shirt?
Perhaps with more details.. I could answer better. ^_^
Posted by Yuki at April 18, 2007 12:20 AM
69.76.9.144
I point out that she said yes. But yeah, Rand had some issues, or possibly just fetishes, when it came to sexuality. (Fountainhead was a bit worse on that account).
It's one of my favorite books despite the fairly naive politics (I have an essay somewhere on why pure libertarianism can't work in a post-industrial society). I've read it 3 or 4 times now.
Posted by KC at April 18, 2007 04:27 PM
144.35.200.56
Oh, and I'd want the cock of science T-shirt just in case I ever really felt the need to be fired.
Posted by KC at April 18, 2007 04:32 PM
144.35.200.56
Ah, yes, KC thanks for pointing that out. I do believe I was thinking of Fountainhead after all!
Posted by AHTX at April 19, 2007 01:05 PM
67.79.222.221
I would wear it, but like Cylver said:
"Personally, I'd pair it with a labcoat, and head to the singles bars."
Except I'd wear the combo EVERYWHERE.
…Hmm. My wife may object to that…
Posted by Draygo at April 20, 2007 02:50 AM
66.189.104.187
I'd wear it to cons and be the MOST POPULAR GIRL OF THE FUCKING PROM. Ohhhhhh yeah. Unf unf unf.
And clubs... and Pennsic... and concerts... yeah, pretty much anywhere my parents aren't.
Posted by Cordelia at April 23, 2007 12:49 PM
71.133.138.205
Atlas Shrugged suffers a bit from the novel-treatise format, because the philosophy slows the plot, while still being glossed over in a way that leads to the HURR SELFISHNESS IS BAD RAND SUCKS HURR idiocy (which isn't to say orthodox Objectivism doesn't have issues).
Posted by obj-c at April 23, 2007 07:41 PM
142.68.121.144
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