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Speaker 1

00:00

And now, Last Week Tonight asks, How is this still a thing? This week, Ayn Rand, how is she still a thing? 3 decades after her death, the writer Ayn Rand is still the subject of serious debate, and not just over how to pronounce her name. Ayn Rand or Ayn Rand, or however the moderns pronounce it.

Speaker 2

00:20

Ayn Rand, not Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand. I'm told it's Ayn Rand.

Speaker 1

00:26

Ayn Rand became famous for her philosophy of objectivism, which is a nice way of saying being a selfish asshole.

Speaker 3

00:33

Why is it good to want others to be happy? You can make others happy when and if those others mean something to you selfishly.

Speaker 1

00:43

Rand illustrated her beliefs in novels like Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, stories of rapey heroes complaining about how no 1 appreciates their true genius. My work done my way. Nothing else matters to me.

Speaker 1

00:57

And if that reminds you of anyone, it's probably someone like this.

Speaker 4

01:02

Until I'm done with my Lamborghini entrance, no one's allowed in. Make sure they know that, because if they start letting in, I'm gonna start kissing. What about my entrance?

Speaker 1

01:11

Ayn Rand has always been popular with teenagers, but she's something you're supposed to grow out of, like ska music or hand jobs. Curiously, though, Rand's popularity persists among a certain type of adult.

Speaker 5

01:23

Mark Cuban, how many times have you read Fountainhead? 3 complete times. You know, it's funny, because I'll pick it up when I need motivation, but then if I read too far, I get too much motivation, and I get too jittery, so I have

Speaker 1

01:36

to put it down. Yes, unbelievably, Mark Cuban's favorite book is about a misunderstood visionary who blows things up when he doesn't get his way. Cuban even named his 287-foot yacht Fountainhead, because sometimes having a 287-foot yacht just isn't enough to warn people you're a douchebag.

Speaker 1

01:56

And Rand's influence extends even further.

Speaker 2

01:59

Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism. I am

Speaker 1

02:06

a big fan of Ayn Rand, I've read all of her novels.

Speaker 2

02:08

Now let me encourage any of you who have not read Atlas Shrugged to go tomorrow, buy Atlas Shrugged and read it.

Speaker 1

02:16

However, Ayn Rand is an unlikely hero for conservatives because she was also pro-choice.

Speaker 5

02:22

A man who claims to defend rights and objects to the right to have abortion, that's not a defender of rights.

Speaker 1

02:32

And anti-God.

Speaker 3

02:33

I am against God for the reason that I don't want to destroy reason.

Speaker 1

02:39

No, not that 1. The real God.

Speaker 3

02:42

What do I think of President Reagan? The best answer to give would be, but I don't think of him. And the more I see, the less I think.

Speaker 1

02:52

And in case that's making you start to fall for her, take a listen to her views on Native Americans.

Speaker 4

02:57

I do not think that they have any right to live in a country merely because they were born here and acted and lived like savages.

Speaker 1

03:08

Why would conservatives hold up as their idol someone who says things like that? Especially when there are so many other advocates for selfishness they could choose. Like Donald Trump.

Speaker 2

03:19

Part of the beauty of me

Speaker 5

03:21

is that I'm very rich.

Speaker 1

03:23

Or Drake.

Speaker 2

03:24

I'm a worry about me, give a f*** about you.

Speaker 1

03:27

To basically anyone on Bravo.

Speaker 4

03:29

I will f***ing kill you.

Speaker 1

03:32

All of which is enough to make you wonder, Ayn Rand, how is she still a thing?