If you are referring to the speech he gives in an address to the entire nation near the end of the book prior to being taken prisoner, that speech got boring and repetitive about halfway through. He really could have used a good speechwriter or editor (and one can argue the same about the entire book) to pare it down and remove the repetition.
Don't get me wrong, the principles he is talking about and their repercussions merit more than a 30-second soundbite, but I think it could have been just as effective and much more polished with half the verbosity.
How many high school students do you have that actually read the entire text of "Lord of the Flies" - which is only like 200 pages? And they are going to be called on to read all 700+ pages of "Atlas Shrugged"? Not likely.
If most misunderstand it, then the message isn“t clear. I believe the "I Am John Galt" speech is impecable and completely, not to say utterly, clear. Maybe few are the ones who actually reinterpret the message to their own agenda. Just a thought...
Thanks for the reminder Scott. I need to pick up a couple more copies of the DVD, if only to show friends the "I am John Galt" bonus section. Three generations of John Galt appear around the 23 minute mark.
An excellent letter, although "misunderstood" is a gentle way to describe willful ignorance. Vanishingly few who hate A.S. have read it, and equally few who have actually read it come away hating it.
I've got plenty of Atlas stickers etc. (never enough, of course, because I spread them around) but I haven't seen one like the writer of that letter described.
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Don't get me wrong, the principles he is talking about and their repercussions merit more than a 30-second soundbite, but I think it could have been just as effective and much more polished with half the verbosity.