en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/538906 Comments by Mobeone http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/03/26/why-atlas-shrugged-matters/#IDComment21511742 In reading Rand, there are 2 critical components to deal with: the art and the philosophy. Taking short cuts with either one will not pay you the marvelous dividends the work is capable of and that you should deserve. Number one, as a work of classic literature, it offers a most heroic vision of mankind's potential. This is based on an aesthetic philosophy of romantic realism. Most modernist or post modern deconstructionists hate this. It is to them, way too idealistic (read impractical and simplistic). It is way too heroic and benevolent, celebrating a vision of the way life could be and should be. To them, this is childish rubbish. It doesn't glorify all the struggles of conflicted, compromised, and corrupted antiheros. (See Tobias Woffe's Old School for a recent example.) Number two, as fictional works based on a concise philosophy, Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead are not going to make perfect sense without developing a rational and objective view of philosophy and the critical thinking skills that go with that. That is where the real battle exists. At some point, every individual human being needs to take a stand about the most fundamental concepts. There are 3 simple questions you have to answer correctly: What is? How do you know what is? So What? Please let me know if you'd like to discuss this further. Also, please do not skip Galt's speech. Read it once now, then again, however much later, after tackling some of the philosophy behind it. Incidentally, politics and economics are certainly important, but they are not the foundation of, or substitute for, really good philosophy. Fri, 15 May 2009 11:48:00 +0000 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mbaron/2009/03/26/why-atlas-shrugged-matters/#IDComment21511742