The current issue of the New Yorker has an article on the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party's views on politics don't interest me- I think they're reactionary and not proactive. But they dragged art into the debate, and now I'm a little miffed.My favorite book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It's absolutely everything a book should be. If you haven't read it, buckle down for the 800 pages and just do it. (It is preferable if you know nothing about it beforehand). The hero is Howard Roark. He has bright orange hair and is wonderful. He is an architect, who only creates to satisfy his own inner need. The theory of the book is selfish objectivism. A human's first duty is to him/herself. Why? Because we can not create things of any use if we are not first self-satisfied. For this reason, the fountainhead (hence, the title of the book) of the best things in our civilization (helicopters, penicillin, etc) is the ego, vision, and execution of one talented, selfish person.
It should be said that Rand was anti-political. She hated liberals and conservatives equally.
So why is the Tea Party Movement claiming The Fountainhead as the book symbolizing their struggle? From what I know of the Tea Parties, they organize in frequent protests of masses upon masses of people. They attract people who brandish petitions, and people who take pride in being "Ordinary Americans." (I will leave this alone- as anyone who relishes being merely ordinary is probably deserving of the title.)
But... The Fountainhead claims that nothing productive may be accomplished with masses of people- it's all down to one person. Also, if you need other people to back up your opinions, or if you want to influence someone who needs to see you can influence others, this is tyranny. And, finally, anyone who is "ordinary" has sold his/her soul.
The Fountainhead is not about ordinary people. Rand continually wrote against the flock-centric vulgarity of these "ordinary" masses. In fact, The Fountainhead explicitly states that masses of people, especially these collective "ordinary people" corrupt everything that is wholly good.
So really- my plea is this. Tea Party, I don't care what you do, but please read books before you tout them.
Perhaps nothing annoys me more (other than the smell of fried food and people who walk slowly on the street) than people who think that basic outrage is valid.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it seems to me that actually reading a whole book (without pictures) is antithetical to the whole Tea Party Movement.
Not that I mean to be critical...