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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.comBIG SISTER IS WATCHING YOU 173Beyond the idea of conspiracy, Rand’s ethical revolution led her tosee natural human sympathy for the downtrodden as an unacceptablestricture on those she designated “at the top of the pyramid.” ThroughGalt Rand reversed the typical understanding of exploitation, arguing:The man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to allthose below him, but gets nothing except his material payment, receivingno intellectual bonus from others to add to the value of his time. The manat the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude,contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus ofall of their brains. Such is the nature of the “competition” between thestrong and weak of the intellect. Such is the pattern of “exploitation” forwhich you have damned the strong. (989)In these passages Rand entirely drops the populism and egalitarianismthat characterized her earlier work, reverting to the language used byearlier defenders of capitalism. Although she did not use explicit biologicalmetaphors, her arguments were like a parody of social Darwinism.Atlas Shrugged was an angry departure from the previous emphasis onthe competence, natural intelligence, and ability of the common manthat marked The Fountainhead.Why such a dramatic shift in thirteen years? Partly Rand was simplytending back to the natural dynamics of pro-capitalist thought, whichemphasized (even celebrated) innate differences in talent. These tendencieswere exaggerated in Rand’s work by her absolutist, blackand-whitethinking. Her views on the “incompetent” were particularlyharsh because she was so quick to divide humanity into world-shakingcreators and helpless idiots unable to fend for themselves. This binarism,coupled with her penchant for judgment, gave the book much ofits negative tone. Because she meant to demonstrate on both a personaland a social level the result of faulty ideals, Rand was often mercilesswith her characters, depicting their sufferings and failings with relish. Inone scene she describes in careful detail the characteristics of passengersdoomed to perish in a violent railroad crash, making it clear that theirdeaths are warranted by their ideological errors (566–68). Such spleenpartially explains the many negative reviews Rand received. After all, byrenouncing charity as a moral obligation she had voluntarily opted outof any traditional expectations of politeness or courtesy. Atlas Shrugged