• BarrelAgedBoredom
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    9 months ago

    The woman is reading The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand. The meme is using the book as a caption, to highlight the selfishness of the woman’s actions (not wearing a mask). There’s an additional layer as well.

    Ayn rand is an (incredibly horny) author. She developed Objectivism, a philosophical school of thought that functions off the idea of knowledge and values are objective. That “they exist and are determined by the nature of reality, to be discovered by one’s mind, and are not created by the thoughts one has”. Objectivism is popular among conservatives as it appeals to their world view. The “facts over feelings” crowd in particular loves to dickride Ayn Rand.

    Some notable fans of her work include Elon Musk, Peter Theil, Amber Heard, Ben Shapiro, and Jordan Peterson. That’s not relevant to the meme, I just want to highlight that objectivism is a joke and the people who support it are awful.

    • Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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      9 months ago

      So if I believe in Objectivism, I should just smugly chuck her book out the window?

      I mean the theory is quite clear about pursuing a sort of egoistic happiness, right?

      • BarrelAgedBoredom
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        9 months ago

        Do as you please, I personally wouldn’t waste my hard earned money on her bs in the first place. If egoism is what you’re after, it would be much better informed by the likes of Max Stirner than Ayn Rand. One is liberating and the other enables the oppression of others

      • BarrelAgedBoredom
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        9 months ago

        Conservatives are usually sexually repressed but they exalt a woman who wrote a lot of very kinky sex scenes in between her pseudo-philosophical ramblings. There’s been articles written trying to explain it within the framework of her philosophy but if youve ever attempted to read her stuff, you’ll know she was just mad horny lol

    • No_Eponym@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Legit question. If I was an objectivist, would I need to agree with you that am awful as you discovered this knowledge with your mind and it is a fact determined by nature you have perceived? Or would I just disagree and say that my objectivist view trumps yours because I discovered it with my clearly right-beliving mind and correct interpretation of nature’s facts?

      • BarrelAgedBoredom
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        9 months ago

        That’s kind of the crux of objectivism. Reality is very much subjective and informed by the individuals past, worldview and plenty of other things. Your perceived reality can change because you skipped breakfast and now that you’re hangry; boring, innocuous things are like nails on chalk board to you. There is no universal and objective truth to reality and anyone that would say otherwise is narrow minded and incurious.

        To directly answer your question: the answer would be that as an objectivist you would disagree with me and say that your views trump mine for the reasons you stated. This train of thought is demonstrated every time Ben Shapiro opens his mouth in front of a camera

        • No_Eponym@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          Thank you for that explanation. Based on the downvotes to my question there are some “objectivist” scrollers out there that don’t like how stupid their philosophy actually sounds when you point out it is the equivalent of a toddler’s “nuh-uh!” logic.

          • BarrelAgedBoredom
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            9 months ago

            Any time! Idk why you’d get downvoted for that either. The only objective thing about objectivists is that they’re all insufferable lol