THE ATLANTIC on Rand and Peikoff

[Boydstun]

 

THE ATLANTIC on Rand and Peikoff 

But seriously the most important factor from Peikoff was OPAR.

[Reidy]

Objectivist gossip gets less interesting as each generation passes.

[Cave_Dweller]

From the Atlantic article THE ATLANTIC on Rand and Peikoff: Peikoff had never had much success with women, and Rand offered to act as matchmaker. Reading through her mountains of fan mail, she and members of her circle kept an eye out for young women who might be a good fit. In 1955, they found a promising candidate: an aspiring actor and dancer named Daryn Kent. On their first date, Peikoff and Kent talked for hours about their shared admiration for Howard Roark, The Fountainhead’s protagonist. The two started dating and moved in together. (Kent also began working for Rand as a typist.) “I was in love with her,” Peikoff later said. According to Rand, love is inherently selfish: You love someone not as an act of altruism but because they share your values and make you feel good. If your morals are aligned, Rand argued, sexual attraction follows.

One day, Kent arrived at Rand’s apartment to find a group of Collective members, including Peikoff, sitting in a circle waiting for her. They had decided that she wasn’t right for Peikoff. Branden kicked off what amounted to a struggle session, interrogating Kent for hours about her psychology and personal life, including her sexual behavior, according to Anne C. Heller’s biography, Ayn Rand and the World She Made. Mortified, Kent committed to undergoing psychotherapy with Branden. But it was over between her and Peikoff; she moved out that night. Peikoff later said that he regretted the outcome, but that a prestigious member of the group—likely Branden—had “pressured me, in a way that I shouldn’t have been, into it.”

 

When ideology governs intimacy, autonomy gets sacrificed to correctness, and morality is sacrificed to the will of the group (literally, "The Collective" in this case).

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by Cave_Dweller

[necrovore]

Anti-objectivists are full of triumphant little fairy tales like this: "... and this, boys and girls, is why you shouldn't try to have any principles."

But they don't have anything better to offer, and they know it.

(In related news, I heard that Elon Musk blew up a rocket once, which proves that all of rocket science is pretentious and useless.)

Edited April 1 by necrovore

[Cave_Dweller]

2 hours ago, necrovore said:

Anti-objectivists are full of triumphant little fairy tales like this: "... and this, boys and girls, is why you shouldn't try to have any principles."

But they don't have anything better to offer, and they know it.

(In related news, I heard that Elon Musk blew up a rocket once, which proves that all of rocket science is pretentious and useless.)

Principles? The NBI was practicing a type of collectivist ideology while making a pretense of teaching principled individualism. This isn't about Objectivism, it's the NBI, Rand and Peikoff in my comment above. Ayn Rand demanded obedience to her word. That was not individualism. The article about Rand and Peikoff doesn't discuss Objectivism so much. It's not about a failure of principles, but of a failure to follow them.

Edited April 1 by Cave_Dweller

[necrovore]

The only reason they're trying to undermine Rand and Peikoff is so that they can undermine the principles, as a form of ad hominem attack.

[Cave_Dweller]

 

31 minutes ago, necrovore said:

The only reason they're trying to undermine Rand and Peikoff is so that they can undermine the principles, as a form of ad hominem attack.

Aren't you imputing a motive to the author that you don't know exists? Where in the article does Beam call out Objectivist principles?

 

[tadmjones]

Granted the article does attack Objectivist principals but not as argument against principles per se , it seems more just for ‘fun’.

Edited April 2 by tadmjones

[Pokyt]

The author of this article, Christopher Beam, is a disgusting piece of filth who's exploiting a fucking elder abuse case to smear Objectivism. Fucking paparazzi posing as a journalist. I wonder how he'd feel if someone spouted this sort of drivel about his dying relatives to attack his beliefs.

Everyone here should contact The Atlantic to complain, then follow this fucker around to whatever outlet he tries to find work at until he's in the Wendy's drive-thru where he belongs. I am never more sympathetic to fascists than when I see shit like this. I feel like Pink at the end of The Wall. Just fuck off and die. Jesus.

What's going on with the Peikoffs has nothing to do with Objectivism, and it's unfortunately pretty common: A old, sick and unmarried man has an end of life crisis, creating a perfect opening for a predatory younger woman to swoop in and claim the inheritance loot for herself.

This exact scenario played out in my family twice in the same year, 2021. The first time was with my grandfather (mom's side) and his second wife who, after my grandfather with brain cancer was rendered nearly comatose from diabetic shock, bought a do-it-yourself will kit and gave herself anything of value that he had. My mom and I actually saw the kit while we were visiting the vegetable that used to be grandpa.

The second time was when, after recently entering hospice care, my dad made the brilliant decision to marry some Chinese woman who barely spoke English. Understandably, her lust for a man who weighed around 70 pounds and needed a wheelchair owing to the tumors in his bones was too insatiable for her to turn down such an offer, and my dad promptly placed all of his assets under her discretion.

After he died she took everything down to my childhood books and camping gear before immediately fucking off back to China. She left his 2013 BMW 135i and 2001 BMW 323i to rot in an open air storage facility in a move that I can only guess was meant to spite me. I had been told for nearly a decade at that point that the 323i was gonna be mine someday. My dad wasn't wealthy or good with money by any stretch of the imagination, and those cars aren't worth a lot, but I would have appreciated being able to hang onto them. I'm bolo punching that cunt if I ever see her again.

I don't blame either patriarch for much of what happened there. My grandfather was completely incoherent for the 10 minutes that he was awake during our week-long visit, and my dad was on so much morphine that he often forgot how to do shit like speak English. I only wish I had thought to get a conservatorship as a 17-18 year old.

Anyway, what's going on with Peikoff is what happened to my dad except Peikoff's loser wife is going to end up with the rights to fucking Atlas Shrugged. 

It's completely outrageous, and anyone who's giving Kira any shit about the conservatorship case is either stupid or malicious. Seriously, if you're leaving mean comments on her Facebook page about this like I've seen a number of people do, you're a scumbag loser. I don't really know anything about who Kira is as a person, and I have no interest in finding out, but she at least seems to care a lot about her dad who's very clearly being taken advantage of.

The only reason that this woman married a 91-year-old man is to take his stuff. Sorry, but even though he's a brilliant guy, I seriously doubt the oxygen tank heats up the ol' ovaries much. This shitbag used her position as a nurse to weasel her way into easy money from a dying man, and Leonard's probably too out of it to even think twice about it.

If Leonard is of sound mind, then he's a simpering little rat fuck for selling out his kid like this. It should be clear to anyone that he isn't, though. Some scumbag lawyer that Grace and him hired wrote out that public letter for him, and I'd have to guess that he's on a whole cocktail of drugs for whatever is very obviously ailing him at the moment. His wife should probably go to prison for elder abuse and so should his attorney.

 

On 4/1/2025 at 5:16 PM, Cave_Dweller said:

Principles? The NBI was practicing a type of collectivist ideology while making a pretense of teaching principled individualism. This isn't about Objectivism, it's the NBI, Rand and Peikoff in my comment above. Ayn Rand demanded obedience to her word. That was not individualism. The article about Rand and Peikoff doesn't discuss Objectivism so much. It's not about a failure of principles, but of a failure to follow them.

Took a look at your post history, and I am almost positive that you're the Ogg_Vorbis guy who spent nearly a year screenshotting forum members' posts, schizoposting about them on his Twitter page of like 2 followers, and making dozens of accounts that we kept banning. Aren't you old? Why are you spending your time like this?

If that's not you, which it absolutely is, then you're still obviously just here to stir shit up. I'll give you a couple messages to defend yourself.

Edited April 10 by Pokyt

[Pokyt]

I was serious about contacting The Atlantic to get this article pulled, by the way. Elder abuse is serious shit, not fodder for snarky journalists to mock people with opinions they don't like.

Link to contact form (click the dropdown menu under "please select the purpose of your message," then select "letter to the editor."): https://support.theatlantic.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000332354

Make sure to include a link to what you're complaining about in the message, just so there's no confusion. Do whatever after that. Give these people a piece of your mind.

Article:https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/ayn-rand-peikoff-inheritance-battle/682219/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[tadmjones]

Maybe you are too young to know who Barbara Steisand was, but are you aware of the eponymous effect?

As far as Rand's legacy , Nietzsche probably had it worse.

Think Roark to Toohey on opinions of others.

[Cave_Dweller]

2 hours ago, Pokyt said:

The author of this article, Christopher Beam, is a disgusting piece of filth who's exploiting a fucking elder abuse case to smear Objectivism. Fucking paparazzi posing as a journalist. I wonder how he'd feel if someone spouted this sort of drivel about his dying relatives to attack his beliefs.

Everyone here should contact The Atlantic to complain, then follow this fucker around to whatever outlet he tries to find work at until he's in the Wendy's drive-thru where he belongs. I am never more sympathetic to fascists than when I see shit like this. I feel like Pink at the end of The Wall. Just fuck off and die. Jesus.

What's going on with the Peikoffs has nothing to do with Objectivism, and it's unfortunately pretty common: A old, sick and unmarried man has an end of life crisis, creating a perfect opening for a predatory younger woman to swoop in and claim the inheritance loot for herself.

This exact scenario played out in my family twice in the same year, 2021. The first time was with my grandfather (mom's side) and his second wife who, after my grandfather with brain cancer was rendered nearly comatose from diabetic shock, bought a do-it-yourself will kit and gave herself anything of value that he had. My mom and I actually saw the kit while we were visiting the vegetable that used to be grandpa.

The second time was when, after recently entering hospice care, my dad made the brilliant decision to marry some Chinese woman who barely spoke English. Understandably, her lust for a man who weighed around 70 pounds and needed a wheelchair owing to the tumors in his bones was too insatiable for her to turn down such an offer, and my dad promptly placed all of his assets under her discretion.

After he died she took everything down to my childhood books and camping gear before immediately fucking off back to China. She left his 2013 BMW 135i and 2001 BMW 323i to rot in an open air storage facility in a move that I can only guess was meant to spite me. I had been told for nearly a decade at that point that the 323i was gonna be mine someday. My dad wasn't wealthy or good with money by any stretch of the imagination, and those cars aren't worth a lot, but I would have appreciated being able to hang onto them. I'm bolo punching that cunt if I ever see her again.

I don't blame either patriarch for much of what happened there. My grandfather was completely incoherent for the 10 minutes that he was awake during our week-long visit, and my dad was on so much morphine that he often forgot how to do shit like speak English. I only wish I had thought to get a conservatorship as a 17-18 year old.

Anyway, what's going on with Peikoff is what happened to my dad except Peikoff's loser wife is going to end up with the rights to fucking Atlas Shrugged. 

It's completely outrageous, and anyone who's giving Kira any shit about the conservatorship case is either stupid or malicious. Seriously, if you're leaving mean comments on her Facebook page about this like I've seen a number of people do, you're a scumbag loser. I don't really know anything about who Kira is as a person, and I have no interest in finding out, but she at least seems to care a lot about her dad who's very clearly being taken advantage of.

The only reason that this woman married a 91-year-old man is to take his stuff. Sorry, but even though he's a brilliant guy, I seriously doubt the oxygen tank heats up the ol' ovaries much. This shitbag used her position as a nurse to weasel her way into easy money from a dying man, and Leonard's probably too out of it to even think twice about it.

If Leonard is of sound mind, then he's a simpering little rat fuck for selling out his kid like this. It should be clear to anyone that he isn't, though. Some scumbag lawyer that Grace and him hired wrote out that public letter for him, and I'd have to guess that he's on a whole cocktail of drugs for whatever is very obviously ailing him at the moment. His wife should probably go to prison for elder abuse and so should his attorney.

 

Took a look at your post history, and I am almost positive that you're the Ogg_Vorbis guy who spent nearly a year screenshotting forum members' posts, schizoposting about them on his Twitter page of like 2 followers, and making dozens of accounts that we kept banning. Aren't you old? Why are you spending your time like this?

If that's not you, which it absolutely is, then you're still obviously just here to stir shit up. I'll give you a couple messages to defend yourself.

This is Cave_Dweller here to stir shit up with some Gail Wynand monologue.

Ah well, there's nothing one can do about a pissed off mod. They do their pissed off thing, then they feel better. Morality means, enjoy yourself, and live! Live on! I'm not afraid to un-be. 

Edited April 10 by Cave_Dweller

[Pokyt]

9 minutes ago, Cave_Dweller said:

This is Cave_Dweller here to stir shit up with some Gail Wynand monologue.

Ah well, there's nothing one can do about a pissed off mod. They do their pissed off thing, then they feel better. Morality means, enjoy yourself, and live! Live on! I'm not afraid to un-be. 

I put that through DeepSeek and it said that it's AI generated lol.
Will I be featuring on your Twitter again? Why'd you nickname me "Poykt Pool" last time?

[Cave_Dweller]

Just now, Pokyt said:

I put that through DeepSeek and it said that it's AI generated lol.
Will I be featuring on your Twitter again? Why'd you nickname me "Poykt Pool" last time?

That is not AI-generated. 

[Cave_Dweller]

4 minutes ago, Pokyt said:

I put that through DeepSeek and it said that it's AI generated lol.
Will I be featuring on your Twitter again? Why'd you nickname me "Poykt Pool" last time?

DeepSeek said, These features may lead some to perceive it as AI-generated, but it's also possible for a skilled human writer to produce similar work. Would you like to know more about any specific aspect?

Edited April 10 by Cave_Dweller

[Pokyt]

6 minutes ago, Cave_Dweller said:

That is not AI-generated. 

DeepSeek disagrees, homie.

You're also not denying that you're Ogg_Vorbis. Curious!

[Cave_Dweller]

Thank you for pointing out to me the existence of DeepSeek. It looks pretty cool. I popped into on my "once the queen of the sciences" post and it came up with: "The passage you've provided does not appear to be AI-generated; rather, it reflects a sophisticated, critical analysis of Ayn Rand's philosophy. It engages deeply with metaphysical and epistemological concepts, drawing on philosophical terminology and nuanced arguments that suggest a strong understanding of both Rand's ideas and broader philosophical discourse."

Nice!

[Cave_Dweller]

"As Ogg_Vorbis, I don't recognize your statements about Twitter. However, Pokyt_Pool appears to be a play on the slang phrase "Pocket pool," which means to put your hand in your pants pocket and figuratively play pool - with yourself."

Is that a good imitation of Ogg? 

Edited April 10 by Cave_Dweller

[Cave_Dweller]

What's the story with Ogg, by the way? Stir up trouble how? Are you going to reply with "You already know, don't play games with me here, Ogg"?

[Pokyt]

25 minutes ago, Cave_Dweller said:

Thank you for pointing out to me the existence of DeepSeek. It looks pretty cool. I popped into on my "once the queen of the sciences" post and it came up with: "The passage you've provided does not appear to be AI-generated; rather, it reflects a sophisticated, critical analysis of Ayn Rand's philosophy. It engages deeply with metaphysical and epistemological concepts, drawing on philosophical terminology and nuanced arguments that suggest a strong understanding of both Rand's ideas and broader philosophical discourse."

Nice!

lmao

 

 

22 minutes ago, Cave_Dweller said:

"As Ogg_Vorbis, I don't recognize your statements about Twitter. However, Pokyt_Pool appears to be a play on the slang phrase "Pocket pool," which means to put your hand in your pants pocket and figuratively play pool - with yourself."

Is that a good imitation of Ogg? 

I actually had no idea that was a term. The more you know, I guess.
 

 

19 minutes ago, Cave_Dweller said:

What's the story with Ogg, by the way? Stir up trouble how? Are you going to reply with "You already know, don't play games with me here, Ogg"?

I mean you do already know, even if you're not him. This is the gist.
You are him btw lol

3 hours ago, Pokyt said:

Took a look at your post history, and I am almost positive that you're the Ogg_Vorbis guy who spent nearly a year screenshotting forum members' posts, schizoposting about them on his Twitter page of like 2 followers, and making dozens of accounts that we kept banning. Aren't you old? Why are you spending your time like this?

If that's not you, which it absolutely is, then you're still obviously just here to stir shit up. I'll give you a couple messages to defend yourself.

 

Anywho, spamming the section for creative writing with AI generated slop is already pretty bannable, so it's not like I need to get you to admit anything. You are an obvious troll. Goodbye!

[tadmjones]

It is hard not to infer "always am" when hearing "am never more.." , feels like X fodder, watch out.