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Popular inspiration of the right, Ayn Rand used killer as hero

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | February 26, 2010 at 09:03 am

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Ayn Rand and American Psycho

Quote

What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'" This echoes almost word for word Rand's later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others."

Mark Ames; Feb. 26, 2010

In 1927, William Edward Hickman, American serial killer, admitted to the sadistic rape and dismemberment of a twelve year old girl, Marion Parker. Hickman's crimes were so brutal that they were said by the 1920s press to "shock the entire nation". (See a picture of Hickman on trial in 1928 here)

Now, research for a new biography of Ayn Rand, the wildly popular philosophical inspiration for post WW II libertarian ideologues, whose work "Atlas Shrugged" was deemed by one survey as second in American influence only to the Bible , especially today, among Tea Party members - sales of Rand's works have sky -rocketed in recent years - reveals Rand's obsession with this "heroic" American serial killer.

Of course, anyone who has taken Rand's philosophy seriously, her misuse of Nietzschean will-to-power, her references to antiquity, will not be surprised that Hickman - rapist, serial killer, child sodomizer and dismemberment expert - would be her hero. Anyone shocked by this does not know whom they are quoting (Glenn Beck?) and for whom they have expressed reverence and to whom they have pledged allegiance.

Ayn Rand was a deeply disturbed woman, and she called the American masses "lice, fleas, and parasites". That she would become a hero to the Tea Party Patriots is one more irony of history.

So what, and who, was Ayn Rand for and against? The best way to get to the bottom of it is to take a look at how she developed the superhero of her novel,Atlas Shrugged, John Galt. Back in the late 1920s, as Ayn Rand was working out her philosophy, she became enthralled by a real-life American serial killer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of 12-year-old girl named Marion Parker in 1927 shocked the nation. Rand filled her early notebooks with worshipful praise of Hickman. According to biographer Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of the Market, Rand was so smitten by Hickman that she modeled her first literary creation -- Danny Renahan, the protagonist of her unfinished first novel, The Little Street -- on him.

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stejeb

at 09:30 on February 26th, 2010

Some very strange people in this world, but people like her are beyond my ability to understand, and even further beyond to understand the TP fascination with such a deranged creature.

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 09:33 on February 26th, 2010

Well, Steve, I think this is the key: Rand not only says you need not care for other people, she says it is positively heroic and superior if you do not ! That is a heady brew for people's egos: "Why, I can be an important part of history, by being selfish! Wow.! " ; )

Amy Judd

at 09:38 on February 26th, 2010

Interesting!

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 10:07 on February 26th, 2010

Thanks, Amy.

Karen Hatter

at 11:31 on February 26th, 2010

It would seem to take a very disturbed mind to idolize such an individual.

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 11:33 on February 26th, 2010

I would agree, Karen. And this gets extended into political ideology, in subtle ways which are dangerous - because deluded.

Karen Hatter

at 11:50 on February 26th, 2010

Indeed, Susan, twisting the bizarre into political ideology is most dangerous exactly when subtlety is used.

Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 12:08 on February 26th, 2010

Agreed: Because the subtlety is the camoflouge.

Liz McKibbon

at 09:58 on March 3rd, 2010

Great little blurb. I have just recently discovered my love for Ayn Rand's dark, detailed and disturbed world or writing. I feel like the 'bizarre' and extreme have always tried to subtly work their way in to the political world... we just don't realize it most of the time, because we're never fully informed.