# Lifestyles & Discussion > Family, Parenting & Education > Books & Literature >  Why do so many people read Atlas Shrugged and not "get it"?

## RCA

I know of at least 3 people who've read Atlas Shrugged yet don't seem to walk away with the correct message(s). People's reviews have alluded to things such as "times were different then", "she's against charity", "rich people are good", "Republican rich people are good", "Democrats who are not rich are bad", etc.

Why are the simple morals (hard work, make your own bed, no handouts, honor, etc.) in Atlas so hard to understand by so many people?

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## Cleaner44

Because many people are just plain stupid.

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## MelissaWV

> I know of at least 3 people who've read Atlas Shrugged yet don't seem to walk away with the correct message(s). People's reviews have alluded to things such as "times were different then", "she's against charity", "rich people are good", "Republican rich people are good", "Democrats who are not rich are bad", etc.
> 
> Why are the simple morals (hard work, make your own bed, no handouts, honor, etc.) in Atlas so hard to understand by so many people?


When you read any book, you come to it with your own bias and background.  It doesn't matter if it's Atlas Shrugged, the Bible, Lord of the Rings, or Wuthering Heights... people will see things through the filter of their own point of view.

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## RCA

> Because many people are just plain stupid.





> When you read any book, you come to it with your own bias and background.  It doesn't matter if it's Atlas Shrugged, the Bible, Lord of the Rings, or Wuthering Heights... people will see things through the filter of their own point of view.


Both answers make sense. It's just that with Atlas Shrugged, Rand spent 1200 pages telling the reader the same things over and over again. How one could take away the wrong message baffles me.

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## FreedomRings

Atlas Shrugged changed my life, and it's kind of hard to miss the message, or that's what I thought. But then someone told me that to him, the main lesson was that "you have to be flexible and pragmatic to get ahead in life".

I now think it has a lot to do with one's personality type. Only NTs seem to really "get" Atlas Shrugged. SPs are too pragmatic to get the moral message, NFs think the characters are cruel and against charity, and SJs believe the book promotes anarchy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirsey_Temperament_Sorter

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## MelissaWV

> Atlas Shrugged changed my life, and it's kind of hard to miss the message, or that's what I thought. But then someone told me that to him, the main lesson was that "you have to be flexible and pragmatic to get ahead in life".
> 
> I now think it has a lot to do with one's personality type. Only NTs seem to really "get" Atlas Shrugged. SPs are too pragmatic to get the moral message, NFs think the characters are cruel and against charity, and SJs believe the book promotes anarchy.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirsey_Temperament_Sorter


Which personality type is it that just thinks the book is really, really dull

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## rancher89

> Which personality type is it that just thinks the book is really, really dull


I'm with you Melissa, I just thought it was dull---"same message over and over..."

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## Keller1967

Probably because at the core of Atlas Shrugged and Rand's philosophy is nothing but emotional based "arguments".  Atlas Shrugged appeals to people who already lean towards thinking that way so when they read it, it sounds awesome.

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## Keller1967

> Atlas Shrugged changed my life, and it's kind of hard to miss the message, or that's what I thought. But then someone told me that to him, the main lesson was that "you have to be flexible and pragmatic to get ahead in life".
> 
> I now think it has a lot to do with one's personality type. Only NTs seem to really "get" Atlas Shrugged. SPs are too pragmatic to get the moral message, NFs think the characters are cruel and against charity, and SJs believe the book promotes anarchy.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirsey_Temperament_Sorter


That is it exactly, it's not 1200 pages of an in depth argument as to why this makes sense, it's 1200 pages of the same thing over and over again.  If you don't buy it to begin with you aren't going to buy it by the end of the book.

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## BuddyRey

> Atlas Shrugged changed my life, and it's kind of hard to miss the message, or that's what I thought. But then someone told me that to him, the main lesson was that "you have to be flexible and pragmatic to get ahead in life".
> 
> I now think it has a lot to do with one's personality type. Only NTs seem to really "get" Atlas Shrugged. SPs are too pragmatic to get the moral message, NFs think the characters are cruel and against charity, and SJs believe the book promotes anarchy.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirsey_Temperament_Sorter


I'm an ENFP and _Atlas Shrugged_ is my favorite novel!  

Now _The Fountainhead_, on the other hand, THOSE were some f'ed up characters.

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## ScoutsHonor

Bump.

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## Andrew-Austin

> I know of at least 3 people who've read Atlas Shrugged yet don't seem to walk away with the correct message(s). People's reviews have alluded to things such as "times were different then", "she's against charity", "rich people are good", "Republican rich people are good", "Democrats who are not rich are bad", etc.
> 
> Why are the simple morals (hard work, make your own bed, no handouts, honor, etc.) in Atlas so hard to understand by so many people?


Because Rand herself didn't fully "get it", and thus present her distorted egotist perspective of it.  

It meaning lassiez faire capitalism.




> I'm an ENFP and Atlas Shrugged is my favorite novel!
> 
> Now The Fountainhead, on the other hand, THOSE were some f'ed up characters.
> BuddyRey is online now Report Post   	Reply With Quote


The Fountainhead was _objective_ly better. Plus it seemed to be more about individualism than capitalism. Its only downfalls were when Roark had to blow up that place, and all the pro-IP stuff.

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## mediahasyou

Although I have not read Atlas Shrugged, I think "fiction" is too indirect of a method to be effective and efficient at communicating the message of liberty.  Fiction is not real, which can make people come to that conclusion "this is different".


*Spreading the message of liberty can be as easy as:*
Stating the evils of government
Stating examples of how a libertarian society would work
Fostering the curiosity to learn more
Providing easily accessible liberty education

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## Theocrat

> I know of at least 3 people who've read Atlas Shrugged yet don't seem to walk away with the correct message(s). People's reviews have alluded to things such as "times were different then", "she's against charity", "rich people are good", "Republican rich people are good", "Democrats who are not rich are bad", etc.
> 
> Why are the simple morals (hard work, make your own bed, no handouts, honor, etc.) in Atlas so hard to understand by so many people?


I think you answered your own question in the title of the thread. The book is entitled _Atlas Shrugged_, after all.

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## FrankRep

Some people will just need to see the movie. 

(If they get around to actually doing it)

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## Old Ducker

What's your beef with Rand, Abe?  She's been dead for over 25 years.  I'm far from a Randroid but the simple fact is that Rand brought a ton of people to the philosophy of liberty.  I'm one of them.

However...if it makes you happy, here's a scathing review of Atlas Shrugged by Whittaker Chambers, originally published in National Review (naturally):

http://old.nationalreview.com/flashb...0501050715.asp

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## heavenlyboy34

> What's your beef with Rand, Abe?  She's been dead for over 25 years.  I'm far from a Randroid but the simple fact is that Rand brought a ton of people to the philosophy of liberty.  I'm one of them.
> 
> However...if it makes you happy, here's a scathing review of Atlas Shrugged by Whittaker Chambers, originally published in National Review (naturally):
> 
> http://old.nationalreview.com/flashb...0501050715.asp



This is a good point.  Even Walter Block gives her credit for popularizing Capitalism.

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## JosephTheLibertarian

> I know of at least 3 people who've read Atlas Shrugged yet don't seem to walk away with the correct message(s). People's reviews have alluded to things such as "times were different then", "she's against charity", "rich people are good", "Republican rich people are good", "Democrats who are not rich are bad", etc.
> 
> Why are the simple morals (hard work, make your own bed, no handouts, honor, etc.) in Atlas so hard to understand by so many people?


I'm different. I never read it, but I do, in fact, "get it." I like to pave my own path (in other words, books are boring, unless they equate to $ $ $) but I would love to read them if I were in the following scenario



I lose focus

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## evilfunnystuff

They cant hear Ayn.

YouTube - Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson Discusses Music

I didn't read Atlas, I was tuned off by The Fountain Head.

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## torchbearer

> They cant hear Ayn.
> I didn't read Atlas, I was tuned off by The Fountain Head.


You should start with "The Virtue of Selfishness", so that you understand her theory precisely before you read the books that give example to it.

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