'Atlas Shrugged' DVDs Corrected To Read 'Self-Interest' Instead Of 'Self-Sacrifice'

Ayn Rand's polemical 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" deals in her pet beliefs: the strength of a market economy, the value of reason, and above all, stone-cold rational self-interest. Apparently that's a hard tagline to swallow, because whoever wrote DVD title sheets for the miserably-reviewed "Atlas Shrugged Part 1," called the source material, "Ayn Rand's timeless novel of courage and self-sacrifice." In an unintentionally hilarious press release on the movie's official blog, Atlas Productions LLC execs apologize for the error with a series of frameworthy quotes:

From CEO Harmon Kaslow:

"As we all well know, the ideas brought to life in Atlas Shrugged are entirely antithetical to the idea of 'self-sacrifice' as a virtue. Atlas is quite literally a story about the dangers of self-sacrifice. The error was an unfortunate one and fans of Ayn Rand and Atlas have every right to be upset."

And more, from Communications Director Scott DeSapio:

"It's embarrassing for sure and of course, regardless of how or why it happened, we're all feeling responsible right now. You can imagine how mortified we all were when we saw the DVD but, it was simply too late - the product was already on shelves all over the Country. It was certainly no surprise when the incredulous emails ensued. The irony is inescapable."

The company has set up a page for angry objectivists to order a free corrected title sheet, which now reads: "Ayn Rand's timeless novel of rational self-interest comes to life..." The generous offer strikes us as distinctly un-Randian.

(Gothamist via Gawker)

Comments

[Asal Cliste]

06:08 PM on 11/15/2011

Its not self-interest, its just plain old fashioned selfishness.

[Oregonpapa]

04:34 PM on 11/15/2011

Ayn Rand wrote about the greatness of Man's mind ... and those who would destroy it. Yes, she was a capitalist and promoted it to the nth degree. What she hated was CRONY capitalism, parasites and regulators. You progressives posting here should love Rand, after all, she was very much pro-choice and an atheist.

[Just a passerby]

06:05 PM on 11/15/2011

She was a thoroughly nasty person, who cared only about herself. While screeching about "freedom," she ran her cult like a tyranny.

And Randians are perpetual adolescents.

Grow up.

[Kimberley Mixter]

12:53 AM on 11/16/2011

Progressives think about the whole picture as being #1 (the phrase "I and I" mean anything?No? Really?), Ayn Rand thinks the individual is #1. Sorry! No. It is like secular Satanism and it is so widespread that it is like a disease. I am sick of the Ayn Rand thinking. It is the smallest compartmentalized BS white anglo saxon protestant small minded, only forgivable at all because it was written in a time when there was a ton of revenue from taxing the wealthy class and a ton of ridiculous propaganda about everything under the sun. It ain't the fifties anymore sunshine!

[mburgh]

07:44 AM on 11/15/2011

I just don't know how any intelligent can buy this bullcrap. Rand's fake philosophy is harmful, as our current economic situation shows. Many of the progenitors of this disaster are acolytes of this garbage.

[tc71087]

09:36 PM on 11/14/2011

Ayn Rand retired on Medicare. Just to let you know.

[Mark Stouffer]

12:18 AM on 11/15/2011

woop.

[CraigR]

05:36 PM on 11/15/2011

Rand didn't believe that cigarette smoke caused cancer - she said it was a hoax. HaHa! So she basically killed herself - so much for her "self-interest." She accepted Medicare and SS, and not under her own name, but under Ann O'Connor, using her husband's last name. Why? She was a member of the "do as I say, not as I do" club. A hypocrite.
Why didn't she stick to her principles, like Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson, libertarians who refused to accept Social Security on principle? Because she was a hypocrite.
It is hilarious that Christian right-wing politicians worship an atheist, let alone her simple-minded faux philosophy.

[shineonbluemoonk]

06:40 PM on 11/14/2011

Question: Are there, or have there ever been, socities in which citizens were not required to pay taxes?

[Kent1423]

07:00 PM on 11/14/2011

Well, I imagine early tribes didn't have a tax system. And if you define a family as a sort of society, then yes I never paid taxes to my parents.

[RebelSoul]

05:29 PM on 11/14/2011

Trying to turn a long-winded book about how rich people deserve to be rich because they're just remarkably smart and sell it to the middle-class in the middle of a recession is a dumb idea anyway. Yet Rand wasn't the genius the conservatives say she is, she's just the best they have.

Most intelligent people realize that the only people getting screwed in just about any system are the 99%. Ancient Rome, Athens, Egypt, Middle-Ages Europe, the USSR, etc.are always ruled by a class made up of the lucky, the resourceful and the power hungry. Making a book that justifies the rich being rich and claiming that the government is only getting in the way of true genius at work, is a joke to begin with. The rich have most of the power and did when Rand wrote this "book".

"Atlas' is about the train industry, yet she didn't even have the foresight to see the collapse of the rail industry not even 15 years later at the hands of the free market. Very short-sighted.

Ironically, it was the government that saved passenger rail and today its numbers are increasing so rapidly, the Rand's geniuses are trying to carve it up into profitable pieces and destroy the rest.

So not only did she get it wrong, she got it exactly wrong. The government is the last thing left that is preventing the corporations from absolute power and eliminating any "creative thinking" that challenges their authority.

[Kent1423]

07:04 PM on 11/14/2011

Corporations don't kill people. Governments do. But companies wouldn't take as many bold business moves if it wasn't for the limited liability incorporation provides. The government grants incorporation, and with it companies are assured that they will only have to pay for a small amount of the harm they do. Government and companies work best when they aren't much more powerful than an individual. Otherwise, your voice will not be heard.

[KidSampson]

05:43 AM on 11/15/2011

"Corporatio­ns don't kill people."

There are quite a few people in Bhopal, India who might disagree with that.

[loco48]

09:42 AM on 11/15/2011

Blackwater now XE has killed people around the world and blackwater is a corporation. Coal and oil companies kill workers due to cost cutting safety to increase profits. West virginia coal collapse 28 miners and the horizon oil blow up which killed 11 workers. I could go on.

[Mark Stouffer]

12:26 AM on 11/15/2011

"yet she didn't even have the foresight to see the collapse of the rail industry not even 15 years later at the hands of the free market." I think the interstate highway system may have had something to do with it. And aren't the environmentalists and energy concervers trying to revitalize the rail industry? We are building one here in CA. Should we tell them just to call it off? Is that what you are saying?

Also, she didn't write the book about the future. She wrote it about a time very close to hers. So 15 years would have been well within the time range where she showed all the rail transportation collapsing. Wow! I didn't even notice how prescient she was until you tried to debunk her. Thanks!

[loco48]

09:45 AM on 11/15/2011

A national legislature and an unelected totalitarian leader? When did that happen?

[Just a passerby]

06:06 PM on 11/15/2011

Another adolescent randian comes here. She's a joke, and so are you.

[Renee Kools]

03:33 PM on 11/14/2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged:_Part_I
Budget: $20 million
Box office: $4.6 million

Atlas Shrugged. And so did everyone else.

[Ted Bouklos]

03:10 PM on 11/14/2011

http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/SatObj.html

[jmsrobertson]

02:43 PM on 11/14/2011

How, exactly, is trying to satisfy your customers, "un-Randian"?

[KidSampson]

08:43 PM on 11/14/2011

The same way trying to satisfy customers is un-Christian if you happen to be a contract killer.

[Jay from Ottawa]

02:42 PM on 11/14/2011

Originally posted by "dennis" but so darn fun it needed to be reposted at the top of the list.

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-y­ear old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievab­le heroes, leading to an emotionall­y stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

-Kung Fu Monkey"

I got cheek cramps !

[Bike Commuter]

03:07 PM on 11/14/2011

An oft quoted line attributed to various origins, it never gets old.

[txgeezer]

06:12 PM on 11/15/2011

Wheeze. Heard it. Years ago.

[CommonWealth-SinglePayer]

02:35 PM on 11/14/2011

Ayn Rand's views are so silly that a mistake could only help the writing.

[marcdostl]

02:24 PM on 11/14/2011

The POTUS is the biggest Randian of all US Presidents...The most self serving President of all time... All under the guise of hope and change, he parties like a rock star and golfs more than the PGA.

[AquarianInExile]

04:14 PM on 11/14/2011

Marc,

You are not only silly, you are a liar and your micro-bio proves it.


Eykis

[marcdostl]

01:33 PM on 11/15/2011

Repartees, as tales, as they relate to an Aquarian, the Age of Aquarius, Aquarian neophyte, or what have you.

1)Plato was discoursing on his theory of ideas and, pointing to the cups on the table before him, said while there are many cups in the world, there is only one `idea' of a cup, and this cupness precedes the existence of all particular cups.

"I can see the cup on the table," interupted Diogenes, "but I can't see the `cupness'".

"That's because you have the eyes to see the cup," said Plato, "but", tapping his head with his forefinger, "you don't have the intellect with which to comprehend `cupness'."

Diogenes walked up to the table, examined a cup and, looking inside, asked, "Is it empty?"

Plato nodded.

"Where is the `emptiness' which procedes this empty cup?" asked Diogenes.

Plato allowed himself a few moments to collect his thoughts, but Diogenes reached over and, tapping Plato's head with his finger, said "I think you will find here is the `emptiness'."
2)Diogenes was once invited to dinner by a wealthy man. During the evening, one of the guests became so outraged by Diogenes' general behaviour that he began to throw bones at him, calling him a "dog." Whereupon Diogenes got up, went to the guest, cocked up his leg and urinated on him.

[NDeeZ]

08:51 PM on 11/14/2011

Sure hasn't come CLOSE to the vacation record Shrub accumulated--a lot of it playing golf!

[bacaja]

02:04 PM on 11/14/2011

What a blunder, they forgot to add the real key word, "Selfish self interest."

[Boomfink]

01:57 PM on 11/14/2011

I'm going to selfishly save my money and not purchase anything having to with Rand.

[ydnas639]

10:03 AM on 11/15/2011

When I was in high school a friend passed me a copy of "Atlas Shrugged". He asked me what I thought about it. Even then I recognized BS when I read it. That copy of that book is still, over 40 years later, the only book I have ever just thrown away.

[Rich Paul Freeman]

01:50 PM on 11/14/2011

It is not an anti-randian offer. It is good business to do the right thing. Who wants to do business with a company that fails to deliver the product their customers want?

[AquarianInExile]

04:06 PM on 11/14/2011

Apparently, their "customers" are an elusive bunch by the box offices totals.....


Eykis

[azdirk]

10:48 AM on 11/15/2011

Interestingly, one of our biggest business sectors in this country has the goal of just what you asked. The health insurance industry makes its profits by not providing the coverage it sold you.

[Rich Paul Freeman]

01:14 AM on 11/16/2011

The Health Insurance industry has lots of problems. Frequently, employers choose health insurance coverage for their employees. Employers and Employees do not have identical interests, so it does not make sense for one to choose the other's insurance. And of course free market regulation (competition and all that goes with it) does not work in an industry where you have to have government permission to compete, because the industry always "captures" the "regulatory body" and uses it to protect itself from competition instead of protecting consumers.