Leiter has put on a link to a disturbing article on Ayn Rand's admiration for a serial killer, who she seems to have taken as a model for the development of some of her key characters. That these very characters are now viewed as 'sources of inspiration' by many of the influential right-wing American politicians is deeply unsettling, to say the least.
But rather than dwelling on America politics, which I know too little about to say anything novel/sensible, I want to draw attention to the very first paragraph of the article:
There's something deeply unsettling about living in a country where millions of people froth at the mouth at the idea of giving health care to the tens of millions of Americans who don't have it, or who take pleasure at the thought of privatizing and slashing bedrock social programs like Social Security or Medicare. It might not be so hard to stomach if other Western countries also had a large, vocal chunk of the population that thought like this, but the U.S. is seemingly the only place where right-wing elites can openly share their distaste for the working poor.
The author goes on to say that the philosophical justification for this position is largely coming from Rand's work, and thus that her twisted ideas are having actual impact on the lives of millions (impact, anyone?).
As an outsider, one of the things that shock me most about political debates in the US is how these people defend apalling views, which go against what elsewhere is viewed as basic human decency, with a straight face. This does not mean that people elsewhere never hold similar views, but in many places (certainly many European countries), people typically wouldn't even dare formulating them in public, let alone endorse them with gusto. Of course, it would be overly simplistic to attribute the social acceptability of these views to Rand's influence alone (which one might think is what the article is saying). But there is a fundamental gap between what is socially acceptable as a political position in the US and what is socially acceptable in countries which are otherwise socio-economically similar. I confess: I just don't get it, it is beyond my intellectual capabilities. How can they get away with this stuff? :(
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