HE LOVES AYN RAND
OK, I know, he denounced Ayn Rand this week, but her writing still clearly informs his worldview. Just like it takes some kids a while to get over the romanticism of Kerouac, I think Ryan is still carrying a torch for Objectivism. For teenagers, Rand is great because she reinforces their belief that their desires are the most important thing in the world, and she pisses off liberal parents with her pro-capitalism and religious ones with her atheism. Sooner or later, most people recognize that she fails to acknowledge moral shades of gray and is also an enormously shit writer (sample line: “She saw the look of the luminous gaiety which transcends the great innocence of a man who has earned the right to be light-hearted.”) and they sort of quit her, or tone it down at least.

“We don’t accept gun violence as a way to die, and we shouldn’t accept traffic deaths either.”

Blanca Portillo was asked by right wing politicians in Merida to leave her post as the director of the Classic Theater Festival in Merida, Spain, because of a polemic photo taken by Sergio Parra of actor Asier Etxeandía preparing for a performance. More in El País

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