Re: Ramblings of Randroids
Pasha Paterson (gpaterso@richmond.edu)
Wed, 21 Oct 1998 11:57:00 -0400
Since I also have only read _Anthem_ and not any of the
other, better known novels, I may be misinformed. I
laughed out loud at Matt's original post because it seemed
to so perfectly illustrate the totalitarian sentiment
expressed in _Anthem_'s society. I personally don't
think that story had anything to do with S&M or anything
like that; it was a story of a man discovering the concept
of individualism in a brilliant flash of forbidden insight.
The story of the man and woman ("Freedom" and "Equality"
and some gibberish serial numbers I can't remember) is a
more optimistic version of the story in George Lucas's
first (and almost completely unknown) film, "THX-1138".
The title refers to the protagonist's name, which in turn
refers to the genome he was derived from (tagged "THX")
and the iteration (1138th) of that genome. Thus names
have been reduced to meaningless licence-plate-like codes.
Lucas's world, which has moved below ground to avoid the
disruptive influence of natural beauty, is a world of
pure technology and totalitarian government: _Anthem_ in
a global-scale laboratory, with the whole of the human
race as guinea pigs in an experiment on oppression.
But I digress. I am defending Matt's original post as
a clever work of humor. While I haven't read any other
Rand works, and am thus in the dark on the subject, I
don't see any sort of sexual obsession in Rand's writings.
She simply expresses an honest fear of the rise of
worldwide totalitarian government, a fear so intense only
because the victims of the conversion process lack the
ability to view their society objectively and realize what
is going on (Camille's "goldfish in a fishbowl").
Be careful when you wish for ramblings. This is what you
get. :)
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G.H.G.A.Paterson (804)662-3737 gpaterso@richmond.edu
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