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teucris | 3 months ago

The hypocrisy lies in the fact that the philosophy of Ayn Rand - that an elite few held up society and the rest were pretty much just parasites - has been used at great length to justify the gutting of social programs.

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tt24|3 months ago

Please read my comment in good faith. There is no contradiction with Rand’s philosophy here. According to her framework, the state stole from her throughout her life. Using public assistance is merely retrieving a small piece of that stolen money.

teucris|3 months ago

I agree that it was in her philosophical framework to accept social security - apologies if my comment seemed in bad faith due to that not being clearer. The irony does not lie with her, but rather those that use her philosophy to eliminate the safety net that she herself ended up using.

Sure, she could have used the money she had put into social security to invest, and maybe would have come out better off. But for those of us who see how public services can enrich an entire society, there is irony to how this all played out.

lowbloodsugar|3 months ago

And the gutting is done by the people she described as the parasites.

almosthere|3 months ago

She believed that even wealthy kids that just live off their trust funds were parasites too. It was about consuming vs producing, not elite vs non-elite.

Joel_Mckay|3 months ago

Indeed, dehumanizing people shouldn't be the foundation of a logical argument.

Have a wonderful day =3

romanhn|3 months ago

It's pretty clear which group she would place Elon Musk into, probably the most Randian character out there.