I'm an IT consultant, playwright, and poet. In 2015, my comedy, "O'Brien & O'Brian", was part of the New York International Fringe Festival. I also keep up my "Rhyme of the Day" blog, which usually consists of a humorous couplet inspired by some news item.
In high school I was a voracious reader of science fiction, so I picked up Anthem, which I liked a lot. I was curious about Rand’s other novels and I picked The Fountainhead to read for an English class assignment. I found it moving, and admired the sense of inevitable logic that followed the twists and turns of the story line. I by no means agreed with her philosophy at this point, since mine leaned toward existentialism. But over the summer I read Atlas Shrugged. It hooked me completely. The story was great—it was science fiction after all, where super-intelligent plotters conduct a social revolution. The intellectual summing-up in Galt's speech was truly substantial. It confirmed many of my perceptions about the world, but challenged so many of my premises at the same time. So I picked up The Virtue of Selfishness, studied it carefully, and began to think the philosophy was worth a try. Rand gave me a lot of rethinking to do.
The way in which the assault on reason is shown to walk hand in hand with the assault on freedom, leading together to a degrading of human life.
She is an outstanding example of someone who refused to shut up, who spoke truth to power, or what passes for power, since truth has a power all its own.
We continue to see vast scientific and technological progress, and the scientific worldview continues to take hold around the globe.
Explore:
John Enright, “Poetry and Freedom,” August 19, 2010.
John Enright, Wild Flowers - A Play. June 2012.