Not to Argue with Megan McArdle

The reviews of "Atlas Shrgged" the movie are in. They're the same as reviews of "Atlas Shrugged" the book. It's boring, long-winded, and poorly written. And its audience loves it, or at least there are a bunch of people claiming to have loved who may have never seen it. According to Megan McArdle, it's not long-winded and preachy enough, so there is a little bit of controvesy in the reviews from critics. Here's the choice apology from the Rand fan:

The worst part is that the movie is a bad caricature of what people think that libertarians believe.

The truth is probably closer to:

Libertarianism is a bad caricature of what Ayn Rand believed.

It's clear from Ayn Rand's non-fictional work that she thinks living off of strangers' support is perfectly fine. In fact, she believed that accepting support from government for health care and social security was a definite good. The problem is that libertarians are allowing a novel to define their values, when they should look to the deeds of their heros for insight. As Ayn Rand is oft quoted:

There can be no compromise on basic principles. There can be no compromise on moral issues. There can be no compromise on matters of knowledge, of truth, of rational conviction.

The venerable fiction author wouldn't have sold out her basic beleifs by accepting social security and medicare benefits. Her readers probably are mischaracterizing her work, claiming it's a coherent political philosophy.

To be fair to libertarians, that's also what 'Christian Conservatives' have done with the Bible or Islamists have done with the Quran.