Consider the following scenario:
Fleeing the clutches of an oppressive regime, a young woman emigrates to 1920s America. She struggles at first, but through sheer guts and determination, she establishes herself as one of the most famous intellectuals of the 20th century. A true original, she founds her own highly distinctive school of philosophy – as set out in a sequence of books that sell in their millions.
Decades after her death, her most famous works are still best sellers – and continue to exert an influence at the highest levels of politics and business.
And yet, today, academia all but ignores her – dismissing her philosophy and mocking her literary output. You’d think the woke left would be furious. How dare the patriarchal establishment ignore someone who ticks all the boxes: a woman, a refugee, a non-Christian (indeed, an outspoken atheist)!
So where are the campus protests? Where are the mobs of angry students with blue hair and nose rings?
This answer is nowhere, because the woman in question is a non-approved woman – in fact, she’s none other than Ayn Rand.
There are all sort of good reasons for disagreeing with Rand; but, as Skye C Cleary argues in an article for Aeon magazine, ignoring her won’t make her ideas go away:
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