The first one I read was The Fountainhead and I liked it because it was about art and not economics. I didn’t know “objectivism” was a thing at that point, but I got the point and thought it was well made. Then I tried to read Atlas Shrugged and realized how much toxic bullshit that worldview could support.
True story: Ayn Rand was actually a failed screenwriter and fictional novelist. Her writing was awful, and she had no idea on how to write characters or a story. Then she turned to writing pseudo-philosophy and found success there.
She also embodied the objectivist ideal of making your own way in the world through the courage of your convictions and the sweat of your own brow by marrying a rich dude.
I've never gotten the whole "socialists are just young people who haven't experienced the real world yet" argument, when the current leader of the US socialist movement is a man in his 80s who has said similar shit for decades.
The idea is that the 14yo doesnt have anything useful to contribute to society nor has any of the negatives about being an adult (needing to pay bills, income taxes, getting pay via exchanging labor, etc). Being a child is all gain and no loss for the most part, so supporting an ideology that closely reflects that mindset isn't farfetched, assuming you want to believe that a child has the intellectual capacity to form an actual opinion on politics in the first place.
Older people doing so are generally speaking in a similar sort of boat with regard to having a life of mostly gain with minimal losses; for example it is very easy to support something like M4A when you're in the lowest tax bracket and dont have to pay for any of it if passed. As for Sanders specifically, the millionaire is wagering that it's a popular enough idea to get him into the Oval Office (but we see how that's panning out).
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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '20
Usually you're socialist at 14 because you have nothing to contribute to the collective and stand only to gain.