LogFAQs > #940709857

CasanovaZelos posted...

Is it not? My encounters with it have been limited to fringe groups and people discussing its flaws. I've never encountered a major work which takes a positive approach outside of Rand's own work. While it's clear these beliefs have influenced modern American conservatism, I doubt there being common awareness about the concept itself among the general population. I'll hear about it a lot in gaming circles, but that's also due to BioShock.

And this is 'semi-obscure' in relation to things like socialism and Nihilism. It's something you won't encounter unless you're specifically looking into related matters. The use of 'obscure' here is more in the sense of people knowing the term but few having invested the time to learn what it actually represents.

Ayn Rand is explicitly talked about by those conservatives and Libertarians pretty often, not just an implicit foundation of their political philosophies. Like, Rand Paul, who is one of the better known politicians, is literally named after her. In some schools her books are even taught, sadly.

In fact, objectivism so permeates American libertarianism I'd argue the opposite of your last point. People are widely de facto familiar with what her philosophy represents, despite not always necessarily knowing the name for it. Bioshock Infinite doesn't say it's about "objectivism", but the players largely understand what's it's criticizing. I think people have a better grasp on it in general than nihilism, which would be a philosophy people have heard of but don't really understand

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