Wings For Wheels

The beauty of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report is that they watch Fox News so that I don’t have to. A few weeks ago, Colbert did the following segment about the use of Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged as a talking point among conservative pundits. If you didn’t see it, here it is.

Yes, it’s so typical of the Republicans to a) use a 52-year old work of fiction as a template for modern times, and b) praise an author whose other famous novel, The Fountainhead, had a hero who was both a rapist who gets acquitted when he commits an act of domestic terrorism. Yes, that’s the party of family values that keeps America safe.

Of course, this is meant to make Fox’s hacks seem like well-read individuals to the ignorati that watch their crap. But what they’re not telling you is that, to most normal people, Ayn Rand is someone that you read in college, either because it’s for a class or you like Rush lyrics, and are blown away by what she’s talking about. Then, five years later, you pick it up again and you can’t believe how stupid and naive it really is.

Pretty much the only justification for Rand’s work is that resulted in one of the most sublime references ever seen in a television comedy. Naturally, it’s from The Simpsons, the Ayn Rand School For Tots. The “A Is A” and “Helping Is Futile” signs are inspired lunacy. Unfortunately, Hulu doesn’t have a clip of the meeting between Marge and Mrs. Sinclair, but it follows the same path.

Mrs. Sinclair: Mrs Simpson, do you know what a baby is saying when she reaches for her bottle?
Marge: ….Baba?
Mrs. Sinclair: She’s saying “I am a leech!”