I was doing some research about Rand and various theories about her, and I cam across this: Ayn Rand Helped the FBI Identify It’s A Wonderful Life as Communist Propaganda.
Wow. That’s interesting. I mean, it’s a story of a man who got falsely accused of major banking errors, whose life was about to be destroyed, who felt utterly worthless, and came close to suicide. A man, an “angel,” helps him and a loving, supportive family and community comes to support him, assures him of all the good he’s done, and that he is valued. It reads communist all over. For sure.
So, whatcha got? Why? Why is this “communist”? Were the producers secretly communist spies? Was there some slipped in communist message that I didn’t see? What’s going on?
It praises the little man and damns bankers. That’s why. I can’t make this up, peeps. Read through the article yourself.
You know, there is a rich history with Ayn Rand. I mean she appeared before the HOUSE OF UNAMERICAN COMMITTEES. This is huge. Like, this is a huge part of American history. And yet when I was in Objectivist circles, such huge historical things were never discussed. I remember a glib statement saying Rand felt that the HUAC “went after mid level commies not the big ones” or something to that effect. Maybe she said that or something like that, I don’t know. But when you read through the report, her focus was solely on the themes of the movies. Not that they had any ties to any government trying to subvert the United States. She focused her criticism mainly on a movie called Song of Russia, which glorified Soviet living. Which is fair. It’s a propaganda film. But as far as actual criminal allegations … ? Maybe I never heard Objectivist history because it speaks so poorly of Ayn and Objectivists? See also Therapist, a tale of a woman sexually exploited by her Objectivist psychoanalyst.
Demonizing bankers. Just totally falsely. Wow. You know this does happen, right? People do cook books, pass blame around, and do bad things? You can give the Utopian version of bankers–that they do what’s right and free market principles keep them in check–but the fact is it’s just not totally true. Especially since banks are tied in with government. They have legal force on their side. And the natural tendency is for those with wealth to keep wealth–by any means necessary. We see it with lockdown in 2020 now. The very rich elite backed the narrative about a virus with a 99%+ survival rate as a reason to shut down entire economies. It has slaughtered small business, freed up desirable real estate, and transferred wealth around via “stimulus” packages. The wealthy made out like bandits and small business and the working class suffered big time. It’s a blatant wealth transfer. Drive by hero-y heroic capitalists. And, oh, those little businesses and small people. We don’t glorify such lazy parasites who live entirely only by benefit of top producers. We’re not communists around here.
Bankers can behave badly. Managers behave badly. Capitalists behave badly. One report suggests that 30% of bosses may be mildly or highly toxic. As Objectivists ARE toxic, I am not sure they can identify what toxic behavior is or that it is bad.
The fact is Rand was a narcissistic psychopath. The mental state of a narcissist is just like George Bailey about to jump–at all times. They learn to cope, on their own. They sneer at a community coming to him in support. It’s what they want but deep down know they’ll never get. Their highly psychopathic mothers and family never gave them this in their childhood. And so now they advance this idea of “every man for himself,” passing it off as rational thinking of course–but it isn’t. Read Nathaniel Branden’s book about Rand. Do it. Read. It’s clear Rand was a severe narcissist. And notice what happened to Barbara Branden: she constantly worried some catastrophic thing would happen. That’s Borderline Personality Disorder. Narcissists invoke this in their victims. They berate, insult, and smear the victim, taking away their sources of strength, and make them dependent. The victim always feels like they can be cast off to die. This is the psychological hellhole narcissists live in–and the world they work towards.