How old to people tend to be when they grow out of Ayn Rand?

I agree with some of her ideals. I am 38 and only started reading her books 3 months ago. After finishing them (in this order) Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and Anthem, I found much that is right in there. That most men are corrupted in society and that giving up your individualism and ability to reason is praised as good. Belief in irrational ideas such as talking snakes and raising people from the dead is praised as good. Those who doubt are castigated by most societies when all they do is ask for proof before they believe.

So at 38, I'm still with her. Not all of her because she does ignore that most captialists are inherently greedy for money beyond their own means of producing it. No book is perfect. No philosophy is perfect on its own.

Rand fans are always young at heart

It's true, that a lot of young people flock to her ideas but eventually grow out of it. But some don't. And some get into her later in life. My own parents, who had never been too political when they were younger, got into her in their 40s. Which is baffling to me, considering that they're staunch Republicans, and I still don't understand why conservatives are so enamored of Rand, since she disliked conservatives so much and disagreed with them on several key issues. For some people, Rand might just be a youthful phase, but for others, it just comes down to personality type. People who only want to think of themselves, but who feel quilty about it, tend to be drawn to her work, because it validates selfishness and makes them feel not quite so bad about being indifferent to others. Even though I tend towards libertarianism and believe in the individual, I've never been drawn to her ideas, because they go WAY to far for me - I still believe in the importance of helping others and working together.

Funny, I feel just that way about Michael Moore. Most sensible people grow out of him by thirty. Rand was a bs artist as far as I'm concerned, and the idea a person can't be conservative without worshipping her ideas is nonsense. Not to say she didn't start off with a couple sensible ideas but so do most demagogical figures, they don't start off with the crazy talk, they work up to it. By which I mean I think few would disagree that some individuals by following their own personal vision have benefited mankind. Pretty much right after that she turns into a wackadoo; and not only that but what is unforgivable in my book - she wrote terrible literature, which would seem to be at cross purposes with her message. And a lot of her stuff just seemed like bizarre codified sex fantasies. The men she created just seemed like her fantasy figures, and since they had not quirks and few characteristics beside their drive, they are totally cardboard characters bearing no resemblance to actual visionaries in real life. So her message was unconvincing. She needed to learn how to actually write, not just try to cram a message down people's throats.

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Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.

by drella666 » Sat Jan 14 2006 ... I've known a lot of Rand fans in their teens and twenties, but they usually grow out of it. Is support for AR's bonkers ideas incompatible with adulthood?

You seem to have it backwards. Most young minds are sculpted in the public school system, and further steered into the "social justice" form of thinking in college. This is anything but "free society".

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My brother is 67, and he's never grown out of it.

I intend to live forever, or die trying.

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