http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/02/06/bill-would-require-every-high-school-student-in-idaho-to-read-atlas-shrugged Comments On: Bill Would Require Every High School Student in Idaho to Read <em>Atlas Shrugged</em> by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Thu, 23 May 2013 06:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
I'm also a writer, and an avid reader. I've read this book four times... and if I were assigned it in high school, and worse yet had to pass a test on it to graduate, I wouldn't have blown my brains out. I certainly wouldn't have gotten a damn thing out of it, and would have reached for the Cliffs Notes like everyone else.

This is the wrong Ayn Rand novel to push into high school required reading... the 'right' one would be Anthem. It's short, and works over simpler concepts (and doesn't have twenty-five-page speeches). But 'introducing the concepts of rational thought, self-reliance and self-empowerment' wasn't what the sponsors wanted, they wanted to mandate their own misreadings of Atlas Shrugged as justification for Republican douchebaggery.

They don't want better children, they want more Republican voters, and their reading of Atlas Shrugged is comparable to Christian Fundamentalists' reading of the Bible (with all that made-up shit about Jesus going on about the gays just so Jerry Falwell can con rubes out of their dollars). The people who want to make Atlas Shrugged their bible have rather missed the point of the thing.

(For the curious, I'm a libertarian who usually votes Democrat, and spent the last year at Occupy Wall Street. A contradiction wrapped around a riddle wrapped around a Paul Ryan joke, I know. It's possible there is more to this book than the rough liberal treatment gives it, but considering what the conservatives do with it, I entirely understand and say 'have at it,' because they need to be knocked down seven or twelve pegs before we can even deal with these assholes.)
Posted by smcke0wn]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:10:55 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Avedon]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:52:36 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Free Lunch]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:44:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:36:07 -0800 The Stranger more Republicans?!?
Posted by MarkyMark]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:50:29 -0800 The Stranger
Anthem can mess a person up about as well in a mere 1/10th the time and effort.

Posted by david]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:33:35 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Cascadian Bacon]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:04:11 -0800 The Stranger Posted by fletc3her]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:59:53 -0800 The Stranger Posted by John Guilt]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:43:26 -0800 The Stranger Posted by sirkowski]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:31:03 -0800 The Stranger Posted by In2ishn]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:09:22 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Clayton]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:50:58 -0800 The Stranger Posted by redemma]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:48:05 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Root]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:45:59 -0800 The Stranger Posted by COMTE]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:11:19 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Sinclair]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:39:43 -0800 The Stranger Posted by bleedingheartlibertarian]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:30:35 -0800 The Stranger
Because that's what it's about...right?

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:27:15 -0800 The Stranger Posted by LogopolisMike]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:21:55 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Dougsf]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:20:17 -0800 The Stranger Steppenwolf or Zen & Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Those should provide useful balance.

@11 - Precisely.
Posted by treacle]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:18:21 -0800 The Stranger Posted by AndyInChicago]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:16:18 -0800 The Stranger Posted by catsnbanjos]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:14:04 -0800 The Stranger Posted by anon1256]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:04:26 -0800 The Stranger Posted by tiktok]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:54:20 -0800 The Stranger