Very! I had the same experience when I read The Fountainhead for the first time, in the middle of an ego clash happening at my school.

It's important, I've found, not to mistake Rand's works for wholesale reality. She makes some incredibly good points, and I love her concept of the virtue of selfishness, but things are more complex than she writes about. She was aware of this too: her books are deliberately overstated in order to drive her points home. The economy, along with people in general, is more complex than headlines might make it seem.

If more of Rand's proponents were apparently aware of this fact that "things are more complex than she writes about" nor, might I add, are things as absolute, I would have less of a problem with Objectivism.

Yeah. The problem, which I still find sad, is that Rand's main message, above the stuff she writes about, is that you should always believe in objective reality, which means picking logic over dogma, and treating the world as a constantly-evolving thing that requires your own thought. Her followers throw out that message more often than not, and follow an incredibly dogmatic belief system that disregards logical statements for catch-phrases.

such is the fate of any popular message. if you would see your ideals widely disseminated you must be prepared to have them so radically misinterpreted that people arrive at beliefs that are diametrically opposed to your original message.

I know what you mean - I felt the same way after reading Age of Tolerance (similar to Atlas Shrugged but specific to contemporary American political issues) and then saw people singing the national anthem in Spanish, but with the words politically modified.

I've read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged too, but it was a while ago.

It's much stranger seeing people change the words of a drinking song into a national anthem.

Would you recommend Age of Tolerance as a book?

Sorry for the much-delayed reply. It's certainly nowhere near Atlas Shrugged in terms of quality, and there's a heavy US Republican undertone. I'm a moderate that leans slightly towards the right and it bothered me a few times. So if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, then no.

That said, I did find it to be insightful in places. So I can't say I'd recommend it wholeheartedly, but there is some value in there.

> then saw people singing the national anthem in Spanish,

Would this be a good or a bad thing?

as though it were some sacred canon from god.

The national anthem is sacred, but that doesn't mean I can't resent its being co-opted to advocate certain political positions.

Whoops. Meant to say isn't sacred.