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Disillusioned with the Objectivist "Movement"

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Hello, I recently read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It certainly cleared several things for me.

I am a man of extreme talent and capability. And as a result I have always been inundated with superfluous praise by those around me. Excessive praise led me to question the validity and genuineness of it all, and as a result, I began to question and doubt the subject of such praise: my abilities, and as such, myself.

Simultaneously, I had a sense of guilt for my great abilities. A guilt that drove me to disguise myself as mediocre in the face of any whom I considered as such. A debt of modesty where none was due.

The combination of the doubt and the guilt-driven disguise became a reflection of who I was becoming, and led to the belief that I was, in fact, mediocre. The sham became fact because I allowed it to, because I was not true to myself.

A dark depression followed in which I was incapable of producing anything of value. I had lost my motivation. In my meaningless phase of existence, I felt insignificant, and my actions, or lack of actions, caused me to be just that - insignificant.

I became a shell of the person I once was, like the indifferent undead of the abysmal world outside of Galt's Gulch.

I crawled on my belly like a limbless creature, searching for a way out, when all I had to do was use my limbs to stand up and walk out. And eventually, that is what I did.

When I read Atlas Shrugged recently, it solidified some of my thoughts on my experiences and put words to why I ended up where I was. It justified my tearing away all of the weights, obstacles, and burdens that I had been irrationally placing on myself over the years, leaving me with a clear path towards greatness that will only be attained with my own volition and effort.

Given the great influence, I wanted to learn more about Ayn Rand and Objectivism. I am greatly disappointed. It was like that experience we all have after reading a great novel and coming to the big screen to see it as it was meant to be seen, except that all of our interpretations and images of the characters are butchered and our favorite parts are left out.

I have concluded that the true Objectivist movement can only exist at the individual's level, the level at which it is meant to be truly meaningful. To go beyond that is to rely on the interpretation of others.

The novel showed me that I have tools needed, sharpened and ready. There is no reason to dull the blades searching for further meaning outside of myself.

"I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

And so, with that conclusion, I shall leave you with as swift an exit as my entry.

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You are using an Ayn Rand quote to support something she never intended it for. The context in which that sentence was used in the novel (said by someone living in a community of Objectivists) makes that very clear.

Furthermore, there is nothing in Objectivism urging you to isolate yourself from like minded people, or from people in general.

Edited by Tanaka
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And so, with that conclusion, I shall leave you with as swift an exit as my entry.

You don’t even say what your experience with the “Objectivist Movement” consisted of, or what you don't approve of. FWIW, you sound like you’re really full of it.

“Ma gavte la nata…It’s Turin dialect. It means, literally, ‘Be so kind as to remove the cork.’ A pompous, self-important, overweening individual is thought to hold himself the way he does because of a cork stuck in his sphincter ani, which prevents his vaporific dignity from being dispersed. The removal of the cork causes the individual to deflate, a process usually accompanied by a shrill whistle and the reduction of the outer envelope to a poor fleshless phantom of its former self.”

Umberto Eco,
Foucault’s Pendulum
, pp 494-495

Hello.... goodbye.

He doesn't merit a Beatles send off.

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Given the great influence, I wanted to learn more about Ayn Rand and Objectivism. I am greatly disappointed.

Although I am suspicious of this being a legit post, what exactly is it that you've experienced which lead you to become disappointed? I take it that there was some good reason to make a post here, even if you do say you won't return.

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.

I have concluded that the true Objectivist movement can only exist at the individual's level, the level at which it is meant to be truly meaningful.

This much at least I agree with.

The rest is self-aggrandizing, and I find a little insulting to those of us in the "movement".

What are we then - a flock of sheep, following our leader?

(What is this "movement", anyway?)

It has to be a record of some kind, flouncing in, and out, in one post!:D

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Well, it's good to have confidence in oneself. Don't be hatin' on the good for being the good.

Maybe I was a tiny bit harsh on Titillated.

Still, the implication was that this forum, or the "movement", or some individuals, had not met his superior expectations - and he had to make this clear in his first and last post - when quietly fading away would have been the more respectful and self-respecting option. (I feel.) No clear definition of his perception of the "movement", nor rational reasons given for his departure.

Confidence is admirable when it's not used as a stick to beat over others' heads - in which case its merit becomes slightly dubious.

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Amaroq, do you be turnin' on ye own pack now? Whynot you have not been harsh on the o' pup.

We all be proding him friendly like to see if he might be inclind to respond.

but,

"If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber'd here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends. (Act v. Scene i.)" -

Puck, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

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I used the "don't be hatin'" thing to make my post sort of lighthearted. Geez.

I guess he does come off as a little disrespectful. But I don't think this site is the best place to learn about Objectivism, so I can sympathize with the guy if he made his conclusion based on what he saw on this site. That's why I asked him if he is disappointed in Objectivism or in Objectivists. But we'll probably never get an answer.

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