“Does the Name ‘Ayn Rand’ Ring a Bell?”

June 5th, 2006 · No Comments · Uncategorized

George Reisman poses the question to Joseph Nocera of The New York Times:

Does the name “Ayn Rand” ring a bell? You know, the author of Atlas Shrugged, the novel that describes the collapse of our entire civilization on the basis of its hostility to business and businessmen? It’s only sold several million copies and has reportedly had a more profound influence on more people in the United States than any other book ever written, with the exception of the Bible.

Perhaps Mr. Nocera is simply ignorant of these facts. If so, that should be considered astounding, given his position as a professional business writer who is presumably familiar with a wider intellectual world than exists within the confines of his newspaper and the universities which have shaped the minds of its personnel.

Or perhaps he is aware of these facts but simply chooses to ignore them. If this is the case, it would be a classic illustration of the mentality of those once aptly described as “an effete corps of impudent snobs.” That is, a collection of ignoramuses feigning knowledge while going back and forth between ignoring and ridiculing those, such as Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises, who actually possess it.

Hah!

Update: Reisman replies:

The importance of business is manifested in the difference between the standard of living in the United States and that of the Third World and the pre-industrial era. Where do you think the advances of the last two centuries or more have come from if not from the continuous innovation and the saving and investment of businessmen? This is an essential part of the message of Atlas Shrugged. It is a lesson that you and your colleagues at The New York Times, and most of the rest of the contemporary intellectual establishment, have not learned and refuse to consider.

Hah!