The truth is, what Silicon Valley still calls “Disruption” has evolved into something very sinister indeed. Or perhaps “evolved” is the wrong word: The underlying ideology — that all government intervention is bad, that the free market is the only protection the public needs, and that if weaker people get trampled underfoot in the process then, well, fuck ‘em — increasingly recalls one that has been around for decades. Almost seven decades in fact, since Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” first put her on the radar of every spoiled trust fund brat looking for an excuse to embrace his or her inner asshole. (For a delightful essay on that subject, I recommend Jason Heller’s “I Was A Teenage Randroid.”)
[Sinister indeed.]
turnings :: daniel berlinger 
Back when I was in college (100 years ago) I read a lot of Ayn Rand. If you think The Fountainhead is bad try Atlas Shrugged. There was a Rand cult that went to the Nathaniel Brandon institute. I went to some meetings. Before you judge me too harshly, I went to meet girls. There were a number of kind of free love right wing types who went. I hardly remember anything about the meetings, too busy hunting.
Paul Ryan is a big Rand fan. As I understand it he requires all of his staff to read her.
The greed is staggering. No health care? Die in the streets. Lost your job and have no money? Live on the streets, who fucking cares. My definition of the Rand types? I’ve got mine, fuck you.