From: bryce@digicash.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 05:28:43 +0800
To: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Subject: NOISE: Ayn Rand and smoking (no flame, I promise!) Re: Flaws of Thinkers (Jefferson, Rand, Nietzsche, Voltaire, etc.)
In-Reply-To: <ae196a340e02100466af@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <199607231140.NAA09926@digicash.com>
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 An entity calling itself tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) probably
 wrote something like:
>
> (Phill also mentions Rand. She was about as deeply flawed an individual,
> especially in terms of treatment of her supporters, as one can imagine.
> She, for example, insisted that her followers smoke, as smoking is (she
> claimed) proof of Man's dominance over nature. However, many of her ideas
> were very influential.)


I know a lot about Rand, and about her deep flaws as an
individual, especially in terms of treatment of her supporters,
but this is the first I've heard of this one.  Perhaps Tim is
thinking of a play by Murray Rothbard called "Mozart Was a Red" 
in which the Ayn Rand caricature insists that her followers 
smoke.


As for smoking being "proof" of man's dominance over nature,
Rand _did_ believe that in the sense of "demonstration" or
"symbol" but she did not believe that in the rigorous sense of
"proof".


Regards,

Bryce




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