How "German mistrust" of the public turned Mein Kampf into a bestseller again

[anon50609448]

@nimelennar

…Is it mansplaining if a woman writes a story and puts her opinions in the “mouth” of a male character?

I think we can all agree somebody is ‘splainin’ something.

[enso]

@wrybread

Personally I think she writes beautifully, especially to the ear of a teenager, which I think is the ideal target audience of Atlas and Fountainhead.

Was she trying to write YA fiction? Otherwise, she seems to have failed her actual target audience.

[anon61221983]

Good point… is it a woman’s interpretation of mansplaining, but, like, in a supportive way?

[wrybread]

@anon50609448

Then again, my favourite book as young adult was Thus Spoke Zarathustra (I don’t have time for the "Thus Spake Zarathustra translation) so maybe my idea of what young adult fiction is supposed to look like is off.

Yikes, that’s a scary book to cite as a favorite as a young adult. Also an interesting comparison since Rand’s work is so massively influenced by it. Nietzsche’s “ressentiment”, Rand’s heroes always battling people trying to redefine what’s good, much etc.

@d_r

With a toe truck?

D’oh! And ha, nicely done.

[nimelennar]

Beats me. If I tried to describe mansplaining to you, I’d be mansplaining. All I can do is ask questions when I’m confused.

[anon61221983]

Fair enough. Though I think we can guess what she felt the proper role of a woman was via her writing.

[anon50609448]

@wrybread

Yikes, that’s a scary book to cite as a favorite as a young adult. Also an interesting comparison since Rand’s work is so massively influenced by it. Nietzsche’s “ressentiment”, Rand’s heroes always battling people trying to redefine what’s good, much etc.

I don’t know how directly Rand was influenced by Zarathustra, but maybe I hate it in part because it’s a pale imitation. Nietzsche had a couple of really interesting ideas, but Rand, as far as I can tell, took the worst of those ideas and mashed it up with prosperity gospel.

The points about being a “great” person sound awfully different coming from a captain of industry than they do coming from a mountain-dwelling ascetic who can talk to animals.

@anon61221983

Fair enough. Though I think we can guess what she felt the proper role of a woman was via her writing.

Hank: “I wanted you as one wants a whore – for the same reason and purpose.”

Dagny: “If I’m asked to name my proudest attainment, I will say: I have slept with Hank Rearden. I had earned it.”

[anon61221983]

@anon50609448

Hank: “I wanted you as one wants a whore – for the same reason and purpose.”

Dagny: “If I’m asked to name my proudest attainment, I will say: I have slept with Hank Rearden. I had earned it.”

[fnordius]

I think I was the opposite, as my most influential writers as a teen were Kurt Vonnegut and Hermann Hesse. I found Nietzsche not as interesting as Kafka, and then read Listen, Little Man! by Wilhelm Reich.

And then I went to Germany and actually learned German.

[anon50609448]

@fnordius

I found Nietzsche not as interesting as Kafka.

I don’t find Nietzsche very interesting at all. I was very excited to read him after reading Zarathustra, and then I was like, “Oh no, this guy is an idiot,”

But when ranking my “favourite books” it’s worth knowing that I basically didn’t read things that weren’t assigned to me in school. Egghead did not like their bookie-book, it turned out. Even now I find it rare that I’m interested enough in a book to actually read it.

[Ignatius]

@nimelennar

…Is it mansplaining if a woman writes a story and puts her opinions in the “mouth” of a male character?

Would it be … Randsplaining?

[d_r]

@fnordius

and then read Listen, Little Man! by Wilhelm Reich

Best enjoyed while sitting in an orgone box.

[ChuckV]

Based on all the reports of it being such a tedious book to read, I would think that the book is very, very rarely converting anyone to neo-nazism. When neo-nazis acquire the book, they’ve likely already been converted through other means.

[anon50609448]

@Ignatius

Would it be … Randsplaining?

That might be a suitable gender-unspecified word for “Mansplaining”.

[tachin1]

Yikes, that’s a scary book to cite as a favorite as a young adult.

Is it? Many YA’s could use a fire lit under them.

When Zarathustra was alone, however, he said to his heart: “Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that God is dead!”

[anon50609448]

The best line from Zarathustra, and the reason it is worth reading over Randian nonsense:

Verily, I advise you: depart from me, and guard yourselves against Zarathustra! And better still: be ashamed of him! Perhaps he hath deceived you.