Resented, Ayn Rand

 

I am reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Her hero, Howard Roark is described by her on Pages 16 and 17: “People turned to look at Howard Roark as he passed. Some remained staring at him with sudden resentment. They could give no reason for it: it was an instinct his presence awakened in most people. Howard Roark saw no one. For him the streets were empty. He could have walked there naked without concern.”

 

 

My response: it is obvious that Ayn Rand the egoist, artist, original thinker, idealist, and individualist, advises people to go for it, being themselves and conforming to no group, and Roark is meant to exemplify this, as an uncompromising paragon of singularity.

 

I agree with her in the main, but I also believe we should not go out of our way to offend people, or be confrontational needlessly or over every little irritation and infraction.

 

We should be diplomatic and careful with our words and actions, when possible, to not alienated potential allies. Roark seem too severe in dealing with people.

 

Note that when people run into a strong, obvious individualist like Roark, they instinctively resent and discriminate against him.

 

There are too moral requirements here: people that run in packs must be trained to leave iconoclasts and wholesome nonconformists alone, and great souls like Roark should learn to be more diplomatic, so as not going out of his way to offend and alienate the majority—all while being himself and doing his own thing.