dispatches from the atlasphere

A post in Jezebel mentioned Ayn Rand and though I think Jezebel has really gone downhill, I must say that this line about the fountainhead sums up my feelings quite nicely: Turned out this foundational text of objectivism was a sorry mix of bad writing, lookism, and didactic storytelling, all meant to show that we should only care about ourselves.

Word up to the bad writing. I mean, I've only read it over someone's shoulder, but that was enough.

Anyway, the post has a link to this dating site for randy (LOL) objectivists. and i had to make a profile.
So far it's all white people, mostly guys, with jobs like "business consultant" or "hedge fund manager." not even kidding.

one of the profile questions asks you who you'd like to do lunch with. i feel like i've seen thomas jefferson pop up on a few of the profiles i've looked at so far, but i'm not sure why they're so pumped on thomas jefferson, given that he was all about "civic virtue," and therefore had a distaste for cities and financiers. he also had strong words about the corrupting influence of corporations. he was also all about the concept of equality (in practice maybe not so much, what with that whole slavery thing) and it's impossible to reconcile objectivism and equality. when everyone is acting for herself, there is no room for equality. we've seen what laissez-faire capitlaism has wrought--excess for the few, and misery for millions.

funny then, that hedge fund managers and business consultants and other assorted b-school assholes who think they're sooo smart for being objectivists should now flaunt their admiration for jefferson on their dating profiles. i don't think he would want to "do" lunch.