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At the end, E.piphany cofounder McCaskey jokingly suggests that Rand readers should develop a secret handshake.

There's a fun question for you, then -- Short of finding Atlas Shrugged openly displayed in an office, what are some sure tipoffs that you've met an objectivist in the wild?

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At work, I've got a good photo of Atlas over my desk I got in NYC. I also have the luxury of having a few books on the back part of my desk one of which is Capitalism and the other is AS. They are a part of about 10 books and so far I've had 1 person notice. In the very religious conservative area I work that isn't bad. The person wasn't an Objectivist but was friendly to Rand and liked AS.

I usually wear my AisA hat I got 10 years ago at the gym or one of my Who Is John Galt t-shirts. I've found a couple people there that liked AS as well.

At the end, E.piphany cofounder McCaskey jokingly suggests that Rand readers should develop a secret handshake.

There's a fun question for you, then -- Short of finding Atlas Shrugged openly displayed in an office, what are some sure tipoffs that you've met an objectivist in the wild?

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Interesting article. Glad to hear of allies in high places.

On the flip side, it always strikes me how most criticism of Objectivism has missed the point. Such as (from the article above):

Scout's Cockayne adores Rand's characters' chutzpah, but finds her philosophy "incredibly flawed." Says Cockayne: "It assumes perfect democracy and that everyone acts out of rational self-interest. But people are irrational.
Objectivism assumes no such thing. Those who are rational will achieve a higher level of earthly success, be it financial, emotional, whatever. Those who act irrationally to the point of exerting force over others are dealt with by the courts or the Armed Forces. No assumptions necessary.

Egoism and helping others don't really go together.

More hogwash. There is nothing in Objectivism that says you can't help others. It merely says you have the moral right to act in your own interest, and therefore not feel guilty about it. This does not preclude giving.

I firmly agree that the antitrust actions against MS are a crock. Anyway, aside from the idea that they have the right to do business as they choose, it's not like I sit at my desk thinking "gee I wish my computer could do X, too bad Microsoft's stopping all the other companies from making software that does X". So it's moral and factual bull.

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I completely agree with Gadfly here. These people probably kind of liked Objectivism for a while, but then heard some liberal bash her and decided to agree with him. Because as Gadfly said, Objectivism is the only philosophy where people aren't expected to act perfectly. Nor does it ever state that helping people is bad. My favorite example of what Objectivism wants is the Example of Ted Turner. What do you think has done more good for society, The fact that Ted Turner created a company which gives a future to thousands of employees and a service to millions, or his 1 billion dollar contribution to the U.N, which was invariably wasted on it's bureaucracy?

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There's a fun question for you, then -- Short of finding Atlas Shrugged openly displayed in an office, what are some sure tipoffs that you've met an objectivist in the wild?

In my case, wearing T-shirts from Objectivist conferences was kind of a giveaway, as was the framed Ayn Rand quote ("These two -- reason and freedom -- are corollaries, and their relationship is reciprocal: when men are rational, freedom wins; when men are free, reason wins.") hanging on the wall in my cube.

None of my immediate co-workers are Objectivists, but many of them do ask my opinion on various issues because they find I have unusual yet well-reasoned things to say.

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I live in Southern California where your car is a personal statement. My car has a license plate that says "READ AYN" in a license plate frame that says "Ayn Rand was Right."

Drivers on the freeway give me a thumbs up, wave Ayn Rand novels at me as they pass (twice!), and leave friendly notes under the windshield wiper in the parking lot.

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Drivers on the freeway give me a thumbs up, wave Ayn Rand novels at me as they pass (twice!), and leave friendly notes under the windshield wiper in the parking lot.

That reminds me... a few years ago I had a magnetic bumper sticker on my car that said "Why yes, it is made of Rearden Metal". One day my wife was out running an errand, and a guy pulled up next to her at a stoplight and gestured to her to roll down her window. When she did so, the other driver yelled out "Who is John Galt!" She yelled back "My husband's an Objectivist!", to which the other driver responded "God bless him!". Then the light changed.

Once out of college, and even living in a very liberal area like the San Francisco Bay Area, my experience is that people respond to these "Ayn Rand signals" either neutrally or positively. So go ahead -- toss out a few lines. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you reel back in.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I live in Southern California where your car is a personal statement.  My car has a license plate that says "READ AYN" in a license plate frame that says "Ayn Rand was Right."

Drivers on the freeway give me a thumbs up, wave Ayn Rand novels at me as they pass (twice!), and leave friendly notes under the windshield wiper in the parking lot.

That's nice to hear Betsy. In my imaginary version of the country I always saw California as the place that was so "liberal" that they would almost all hate Ayn Rand/Objectivism. :)

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That's nice to hear Betsy. In my imaginary version of the country I always saw California as the place that was so "liberal" that they would almost all hate Ayn Rand/Objectivism.  :)

California, while recently becoming a bastion of at least democratic electoral power, was not always associated with liberalism. With such a broad area and such a large portion of the population, many different beliefs are represented in it. For instance, the Governator...

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California, while recently becoming a bastion of at least democratic electoral power, was not always associated with liberalism.  With such a broad area and such a large portion of the population, many different beliefs are represented in it.  For instance, the Governator...

While there are a lot of hard-core leftists in California, there are also a lot of people who are really more motivated by anti-religious sentiments. They won't vote Republican because they associate the GOP with the religious right, but they will often vote in a more conservative way on ballot initiatives. (Examples include the anti-affirmative-action initiative, the anti-bilingual-education initiative, and the recent voting down of a socialized health-care initiative imposed on small businesses.)

Don't get me wrong, the state is a long way from a bastion of freedom. But there are a lot of decent, basically rational people here -- if you look for them. Heck, the Ayn Rand Institute is in Irvine, California!

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  • 4 months later...

I have a print-out of Nick Gaetano's painting for the cover of CTUI ...

capitalismt.jpg

... hanging over my computer monitor at work. It's a fun and constant reminder for me, as well as an in-the-know protest against the guy on the opposite side of the buikding whose desk is cluttered with Jesus fetishes.

My boss (who rarely comes by my office) has a copy of AS in his office, one of the few books on his shelf. He's a fabulously wealthy man who worked smart and worked hard for every penny he has, and seems to approach evey day like he's just getting started. I've been working for him for 10 months now, and the picture's been in my office since we moved 4 months ago.

I will savor the moment he discovers it and realizes what it is. :D

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