Atlast Shurgged, the Movie is coming to Nashville!

The movie comes to Nashville and will be playing at Hollywood 27, which is the movie theater at 100 Oaks. The movie fittingly premiers in Nashville and nationwide April 15th, which is income tax day. From reading the reviews it looks like the movie is true to the book. Of course, there is no way the movie can delve into the depth of philosophical musings that are in the book but reviewers say it is true to the story and the general philosophy.  Maybe the movie will reach people who will never pick up the book and maybe it will inspire others to read the book.

Atlas Shrugged changed my life, primarily by being the common factor that led to a chance encounter with Louella Ballenger who became my wife, but it also influenced my thinking.  I was already a conservative before I ever read Atlas Shrugged, but that book led me to understand why I believed some of the things I believed. I think everyone should read Ayn Rand. She is a counterbalance to the prevailing philosophy dominant in academia and most of mainstream American popular culture. I admit, however, that Rand goes too far. I agree with Milton Friedan who said of Rand that she is “a great place to start, but a poor place to end up”.

I have read Atlas Shrugged three time and read a lot of Rand's other works and yet have never considered myself an "Objectivist" and only briefly identified myself as a libertarian for a few months when I was in my twenties. I consider myself a pragmatic Republican yet still value the absolutist philosophy found in Rand. Yet, I admit that there is a risk for some in reading Rand. She is powerful! A few who read her will end up on the fringe, but most will not. Most who read Rand will be instilled with a moral basis for believing in freedom and will gain an understanding of why the collectivist impulse is morally wrong. Her work is powerful. If there is one single book that I wish every young person would read, it is Atlas Shrugged. If they see the movie, maybe the movie will inspire them to tackle the book.

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