If Rand were alive today - What would she be thinking and SAYING?

[StrictlyLogical]

Jeanne Calment purportedly lived for 122 years and 164 days and was mentally sharp until the end of her life in 1997.

Having been born on Feb. 2, 1905, if Ayn Rand were to have lived as long as Jeanne, she would have been alive today and expected to live until sometime in 2027.

 

Rand was known for being outspoken, and even considered extreme in the relatively free and capitalist world of the 70s and 80s.

Today, such things as: ecoterrorism, oligarchs, domestic terrorism, social networks, crypto, ESG, WEF, "owning nothing and being happy", "eating ze bugs", lockdowns, global bioweapons, moves to seize farmland, mRNA vaccines, voter fraud, more and more tyranny/authoritarianism in western government, attacks on free speech, attacks on fossil fuels, BLM, antifa, woke, cancel culture, freezing bank accounts, weaponization of the judicial system, rolling blackouts, lurch towards communism in America, TikTok, etc etc.   were hardly imaginable.

What would Rand think of the many things arising seemingly all at once?  What would she conclude and integrate as their causes?  What would she SAY and advocate?  How strong and compelling would her voice have been, yes indeed.

 

IMHO She would have a field day with so many of the things out there now, and she would be so much braver and bolder, and yes true to form, more shocking to the average soy leftist, than any of the current mealy mouthed co-called representatives of her legacy, from whom we hear nothing but intermittent tentative mouse-like squeeks while the world burns.

 

[Boydstun]

She would say:

"You guys who voted for Reagan and the so-called Moral Majority, may you be damned!"

"Boydstun, from Kant to Dewey, for cryin' out loud, get off my back!"

"Here is what I have to say about presidential candidate Donald Trump. . . . No wait, I wrote the same stuff about candidate George Wallace in 1968."

"Given what I said about the Russian soul, it's not surprising the mystics came back into fashion and power there."

"That this is Putin's philosopher is hardly surprising."

"What did I say needed to be done concerning the moral ideal of altruism and self-sacrifice and scarcity of understanding and esteem for the concept of individual rights? Today the consequences of failure in that philosophical revolution among the people are all around."

"What did I say about the growing fashion of anti-man worship of nature? About holding up one's sores for nobility, about tribalism? I need not repeat. Read what I wrote."

Real Revolution

[Easy Truth]

I would speak in terms of Rand in her highest form because when she was near the end of her life, there were signs of emotional distress/damage that she was not equipped to deal with.

I wonder how much she would have agreed with Peikoff. Would she have been horrified when he said something to the effect that he had disliked his teaching role and always wanted to be a writer of fiction?

Would she have been more forgiving of Branden? As in time heals all.

Would she have been more tolerant of same sex couples (culturally speaking, not politically as she supported their equal rights)?

And ultimately the psychology of women and femininity?

She was for Israel but would she have spoken about the lobbying activity of that country?

And I am most curious if she would support Yaron or Leonard regarding freedom of movement through borders?

14 hours ago, StrictlyLogical said:

WEF, "owning nothing and being happy",

I would suspect she would have attacked the WEF as fascists with communist slogans. But then I wonder if she would not think of them as a great threat in the overall world of philosophy. I don't see a clamor on this forum.

I don't know if she would have said "I told you so". Branden in the end, after all his admonitions about aspects of her philosophy did say that history would prove her right.