I have been musing for some time on a curious feature involving the names of some key figures all of whom share the same fascination with objectivism.
Ayn Rand → Rand Paul → Paul Ryan → Ryan (loves) Ayn → Ayn Rand → …
Coincidence? I don’t think so. I think it is one of the circles of hell that Dante overlooked.
And Ayn Rand loved serial killer and sociopath William Edward Hickman.
I suppose it’s better than being a big fan of Jeffrey Dahmer, but, ugh…
http://atheism.about.com/b/2011/05/11/ayn-rand-sociopath-who-admired-a-serial-killer.htm
It was my understanding that Rand Paul was named after Ayn, but this post made me look it up — apparently it was shortened from Randy by his wife. Maybe she didn’t want to be married to a Randy politician? Whatever, it does look a bit like a sick coincidence.
I never believed that the Rand Paul thing was just a coincidence.
“Hi, my name is Ron Paul, and the fact that I named my son Randy has nothing to do with the fact that I am in love with Ayn Rand.”
Ayn Rand despised the person and crime of Hickman. In notes in her sketch pad for writing, she pulled ONE TRAIT out of the profile of this person as an echo and meme of a character for whom she was constructing a story. She never published the story.
The trait Rand was abstracting? The intransigence and confident pride of a hero who does not let the hew and cry of the mob intimidate.
Unlike the left who lionize killers, drug addicts, slackers and louts, Rand spent a lifetime upholding the highest of human aspiration and achievement.
Here is a deeper explanation:
Paul Ryan -> Paul Zachary Myers -> Myer’s Rum -> Gosling’s Rum -> Ryan Gosling …
… Gosling’s Rum -> James Gosling -> Gosling’s Emacs -> Gnu Emacs -> Gnu Atheism -> hilarity ensues
Ayn Rand’s longtime lover Nathanial Branden changed his name from Blumenthal or something as a symbol of his admiration and love for her.
Branden is derived from “Ben Rand” which I think is Jewish for Son of Rand.
I’ve always figured my own name sounds quite similar to several atheism-connected names.
Andy Ryan is a near anagram of Ayn Rand.
Andrew Ryan sounds very similar to Carl Sagan’s wife’s name Ann Druyan
And of course Andrew Ryan was the villain in Aftershock.
Also AM Ryan is nearly an anagram of Myanmar, the new (claimed) name for Burma. But I’m not sure the relevance of that, or indeed any of this.
Don’t forget that Mano Singham is an anagram of Mango Mashin’
Is there something our host isn’t telling us? Why is it that he never writes about fruit? What is he hiding?!
Naturally a Randian scumbag can’t post a single comment without a bare-faced lie. “The left” is of course an absurdly broad category about which to assert any such thing -- or it’s converse. But Ayn Rand was a racist (review her thoughts on the dispossession of native Americans), a hypocrite (she spent most of her life excoriating any form of social security, but accepted it when she was in need), and a philosophical sociopath, holding complete selfishness to be the highest virtue. She was also an execrably poor writer and “thinker”, who appeals only to those stuck in the self-absorption natural and excusable in adolescents, but contemptible in anyone much beyond 20.
A similar affliction recently struck certain US governors: note the dreaded and deadly Rick Perry -- Rick Scott -- Scott Walker group.
Possibly this is a ploy to distract attention from the equally nefarious John Kasich -- Jan Brewer -- Paul LePage sabotage team.
Almost, for me: Rick Scott -- Scott Walker -- Scott Brown, the last of whom fails to represent me, and I think is doing as well as he is against Warren only because he’s flying under the radar.