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Lost me at the Rand quote.

Kept me a the Rand quote. Do you actually dislike the quote or just Rand in general? If you disliked the quote, I would like to know what you disagreed with. If the latter, I would have to say that ignoring everything someone has ever said just because you disagree with them on some points is attacking the person, not the idea. Just because I disagree with Hitler's actions doesn't mean I ignore everything he ever said.

1. On the surface, it's false -- or else the blind cannot create. Rand has few good words for people who are not ISO humans. This is not as clear in Atlas Shrugged, but is more evident in her non-fiction, and I disapprove of it.

A quick Google search brings up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJoaWa-kWQ

2. Quoting Rand signals, if not acceptance, approval for her general thesis. It is a good thesis in so far as it romanticizes (in her technical sense of the word, see _The Romantic Manifesto_) the ability of humans to produce great things. It is a bad thesis in so far as it blames those who cannot produce great things -- for any reason -- for "enslaving" those of the previous class.

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