Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ayn Rand and Goldman by Matt Taibbi

I have to admit to being a Taibbi fan. I take a definite satisfaction of his takedown of Ayn Rand and her Goldman followers. Alan Greenspan is a Ayn fan also. Strauss also seems aligned with this type of ideology.

Over the years I've met quite a few of this type of person--the Rand follower. They usually think they are smarter than they are and tend to border on the psychopathic personality. They typically are inordinately sexist and believe that any type of sentimental attachment signifies weakness. They have this arrogant demeanor that rankles. They really, truly believe they are superior.

These people disgust me; I can see right through them. I don't get too many of them as students because they typtically originate from a higher socio-economic class than the students I regularly encounter.

Taibbi's account of how Goldman employees align with this ideology is worth reading. Here is an excerpt:
"...Now here's the really weird thing. Confronted with the evidence of public outrage over these deals, the leaders of Goldman will often appear to be genuinely confused, scratching their heads and staring quizzically into the camera like they don't know what you're upset about. It's not an act. There have been a lot of greedy financiers and banks in history, but what makes Goldman stand out is its truly bizarre cultist/religious belief in the rightness of what it does...."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/24

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.