Maxïmo Park, Fanboys and Objectivism

I used to think that Twitter was a little extreme; the sad but expected digital-evolution of integrated social networks and a pompous, deluded belief in one's own importance. Two years on and I'm now a fully signed-up member (@Chris_Ince). I think Twitter is great however the argument could be made that I'm simply brainwashed, conforming to peer pressure and am as pompous and self-deluded as the rest of them.

Twitter terminology is embedding itself in the vernacular but for those who are unaware 'Trending' is where many people use the same words or phrases in their messages; the top ten currently 'trending' phrases are displayed at the side of the screen so the you can see what's happening on a larger scale. Sometimes the 'Currently trending' can be useful (sharing breaking news long before the major news networks), sometimes moronic (replace sections of film titles with the word cheese) but quite regularly insanely herd like (let's get *Generic crush* trending).

He's right to be concerned

Now just before Christmas 'Maxïmo Park' began trending and, as someone who appreciates them, I checked it out only to find a great slew of that which can largely be categorised as mind-numbingly depressing.  A great swathe of society, collectively known to outsiders as 'fangirls/fanboys' were responding to a tweet from a popular boy-band with a hopefully short expiry-date.  He posted how much he liked Maxïmo Park and twitter summarily exploded.

Oh my God Harry Styles likes Maxïmo Park!!!! He's so perfect! I like Maxïmo Park too. Please talk to me Harry Styles. I desperately require validation from a famous stranger. Do you like cats? I have a cat. I've called it Harry Styles. If you don't tweet me back I'll kill Harry Styles. The cat I mean. I love you too much to kill you Harry Styles. I might kill myself though. Marry me? Pls RT

I fully recognise that this is not a new phenomenon but I'm sure 'ol Billy Shakespeare never had to put up with the some of the cloying drivel that is modern fandom. It saddens me that there seem to be thousands of young people out there who behave in such a ridiculous manner but more than that I am increasingly irritated at the number of seemingly rational people who do the same. Here's a trick; next time you think you have a witty response to a celebrity's tweet click on their @ mentions and see how unoriginal your comment actually is.

As well as this fangirl and boyish quest for recognition there was also a large number of people who professed discovery of Maxïmo Park for the first time. While there may now be an artificially inflated number of people claiming to now be 'fans' of the band through this endorsement I'm inclined to think that, no matter what the source, it doesn't matter when you came to the party just that you arrived.  Alas the same can not be same for the horror that is U.S. Politics.

If you know me more than as an acquaintance you might have heard me mention Ayn Rand. I say 'mention', chances are that if I was on a roll it may have been a quite long mention of the philosophical construct of Objectivism that she founded and spent the majority of her life describing.  Objectivism is more a system or description of the ideals that a society should be based on rather than any blend of socialism, capitalism or communism that were found throughout the world at the time when Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged.  Without going into a vast amount of detail it's perhaps best to say that the world which Rand constructed in her magnum opus was not without its critics but the altruistic ideals that ran beneath it were difficult to dismiss.

Fifty years after its first publication 'Atlas Shrugged' began to leap back up the bestseller list. Perhaps it was the economic recession, perhaps that it was that the political ideals formed the basis for the computer game 'Bioshock', the reason doesn't really matter; what is more telling is that the book is held in a high regard by intelligent people (even if they disagree with it), is heavily political and is an extremely long/thick book. These superficial features are of no relevance to the book itself but then superficiality is what the GOP seem to be basing their opinions on nowadays.

A much more civilised tea party

Several members of the Tea Party movement and Republicans running for office have stated in interviews that they believe in the Randian principles or list Atlas Shrugged as their favourite book.  Padding your literary credentials isn't unheard of but to do so while running for public office is monumentally stupid especially when it is clear that they either haven't read it or worse have read it but didn't understand it.  Like the fanboys and girls on Twitter who quickly want to be associated with something cool there is nothing more than tenuous misunderstandings that link these people to the philosophies that they claim to follow.  It is unfortunate that the Ayn Rand institute are less vocal in refuting the claims of these morons.

Oddly one of the best examples of being called on their stupidity comes from another group within the same party even if they are too happy to place Ayn Rand squarely in the 'Athiest=UnAmerican' column and think this a reason for dismissal

It's easy to see where they thought they were going right.  If you simply list a select number of Rand's positions then it appears that she opposes all forms of welfare, unemployment insurance, support for the poor and middle-class, regulation of industry and government provision for roads or other infrastructure. It appears that law enforcement, defense and the courts were the only appropriate arenas for government, and that all taxation should be purely voluntary. Her view of economics divided the world into a contest between "moochers" and "producers" with the small group making up the latter; the successful, titans of industry and those willing to work hard to improve themselves. The "parasites" were the unwilling who relied on the support of others as a form of upended Marxism.  Written in this manner the GOP are keen to shout their support from the rafters but her views on religion alone are enough to say that these people shouldn't be as supportive of people, ideals and philosophies without scrutinising it first.

Bloody Fanboys.