Looks like someone shaved off Karl Marx's beard, put a dandruff-laden shirt on him, and stuffed a $1.25 plastic cup cocktail in his hand.
Posted on 10/19/2013 6:20:10 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal posted this round-up of niche dating sites. Many of the sites paired would be lovers based upon a shared lifestyle (farming) or a shared food allergy (gluten).
However, the far and way most disturbing match-making enterprise was the Atlasphere Dating Service, the site dedicated to matching devotees of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.
According to WSJ.com:
Atlasphere founder Joshua Zader, 40, of Phoenix, says niche sites are more efficient than broader sites such as OKCupid or Match.com.
“If you assume that maybe 1 out of 500 people is a serious fan of Ayn Rand’s novels, on a normal dating site you have a 1 in 500 chance of someone sharing the same basic values,” he says. “On the Atlasphere, every profile shows you what you want,” he says. The 10-year-old site has seen a spike in membership in recent years—it has more than 16,000 dating profiles—after two “Atlas Shrugged” movies were released, says Mr. Zader, a Web developer. User handles include “Atlas in Arlington” and “ObjectivelyHot.”
He founded the site after attending Objectivist conferences, where the “open secret” is that most people are there to meet potential partners. “You shouldn’t need to fly to a conference to meet people with your values,” he says.
Perhaps the biggest service this website provides is saving innocent bystanders the trauma of witnessing the courting process that happens at a conference for a fair to middling dead writer who advanced a damn near sociopathic world view.
A cursory view of the eligible singles on the site reveal that many of them fancy themselves “thinkers”, “dreamers” or “writers”. No surprises there. Many of them talk about finding their Roark, Reardon or Dagny, because they painfully want these aggrandized, one-dimensional characters to exist in real life. One gentleman humblebrags about training to become a “ninja warrior” in case you were scared that all the dudes look like tweedy, bow-tie wearing George Will clones.
If the “Atlas Shrugged” movies did indeed cause a spike in the site’s membership, there don’t seem to be any debonair Grant Bowler types or strikingly blonde Taylor Schillings to be found. However, poor filmmaking and paltry box-office may not be the “Atlas Shrugged” franchises’ biggest crimes. They are now indirectly enabling the world’s most obnoxious people to breed.
I dunno, the wife and I (three kids) like Rand. I think she came up on the second or third date when we were talking about books. We like a lot of authors though. I think her earlier books worked better as stories, and she’s at her best when just doing a plain old political polemic, as in “Capitalism the Unknown Ideal.” I admire her commitment to free markets and free thinking. Do I agree with every jot and tittle? No, but that goes for any writer, from St. Augustine to Orwell.
Liberals always claim to be tolerant and really think they are. LOL
Her looks and brains have gone Galt.
Finally, someone paying cash for their own abortions.
Sheesh.........No danger in your type breeding, Maggie.
Looks like someone shaved off Karl Marx's beard, put a dandruff-laden shirt on him, and stuffed a $1.25 plastic cup cocktail in his hand.
My main objection to Orwell is that he was too good at constructing elitist, totalitarian worlds. Today's big government liberals are using his work as a blueprint.
ObamaCare is Affordable: they keep repeating their mantra, as Orwell taught them, and the low-information voters believe.
Good ones.
A Maggie Serota is not qualified to pass such judgments on an Ayn Rand. A competent editor would have ordered her to remove this line.
Have at it. This is too much fun.
All I have to say is...
$
5.56mm
I can see why she was trolling off beat dating sites for sure. She should try the Guiding eyes for the blind dating site.
I am not very familiar with Ayn Rand or her philosophy.
But, just don’t understand a liberal having an uproar about a dating site for fans of Ayn Rand.
There are dating sites for various other niches. And liberals are tolerant and open minded. Thus, liberals should be ok with such a site, and should not be judgemental about someone “breeding” as a result of meeting someone on such a site.
Ayn Rand wrote somewhat like George Orwell in an unkind light on liberals and progressives.
Word of the day: “assortative”.
if it helps avoid the morons of the left... I’m all for it
who wants a woman that will fight tooth and nail for the right to kill her kid?
She couldn't grasp feminine virtues.
THAT’S A MAN...oh, wait- no Adam’s apple...never mind!
“But, just don’t understand a liberal having an uproar about a dating site for fans of Ayn Rand.”
Rand was completely against Marxism and its many flavors; socialism, communism, etc. Liberals hate that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.