Mid-Michigan Objectivist Club

Randaphobia (definition)

The unreasoning fear of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. It is exhibited through visceral hostility toward all things appertaining to Ayn Rand, and to any individual who expresses agreement with any elements of Objectivism. Objectivists see Randaphobia as evidence of the power and relevance of Objectivism, because those affected by it would not devote so much passion and energy to reviling a weak or irrelevant philosophy; they would instead either ignore it, or calmly point out perceived errors and move on.

Symptoms of Randaphobia include but are not limited to the following:

*The belief that it is acceptable behavior to abandon all civility in discourse with any individual who agrees with elements of Objectivism.

*When discussing anything related to Objectivism, the substitution of sneering, insults, ridicule, dismissiveness, patronizing, sarcasm, and similar rhetorical devices for reasoned and civil discourse.

*An obsessive focus on biographical details or supposed personality defects of Ayn Rand, rather than the ideas developed by Ayn Rand.

*The belief that one can discuss or challenge the philosophy of Objectivism without ever having read Ayn Rand, in particular her major philosophical works (Atlas Shrugged), or having made any serious effort to understand them.

*The refusal to seriously engage the substance of Objectivist ideas, instead focusing on mischaracterizations and myths about those ideas.

*The ascribing of malevolent motives to those who agree with any elements of Objectivism.

*(In academics,) acting contrary to professed principles of promoting "tolerance," "critical thinking" and "openness to alternative viewpoints" by shutting down any discussion of Objectivism (in extreme cases even any mention of it), or inflicting the above behaviors on students.

Those affected by Randaphobia may exhibit some or all of these symptoms. Objectivists contend that most cases of Randaphobia occur in individuals who do actually think deeply about philosophical issues, but instead use philosophical terms to support preconceived notions about politics, society, economics, and culture. Its most virulent form is exhibited by academics who have the intellectual tools to seriously engage and address the issues raised by Objectivism, but choose instead to respond Objectivism with behaviors such as those listed above.

Treatment
There is no known cure for Randaphobia. In the long run, natural selection selects against those who exhibit it in their economic behavior, such as extreme forms of altruism, for example. However, in their economic lives many Randaphobics behave as if they agree intellectually with the principles of capitalism and ethical egoism. This suggests that hypocrisy may be an effective treatment for some of the potentially life-threatening effects of Randaphobia, allowing an individual to live a seemingly normal life. Practitioners question the quality of life of such individuals, however, given the extreme divide between their thoughts and actions.

Diagnosis
Randaphobia is indicated when the subject exhibits a proclivity to make assertions such as the following:

"I'm not afraid of Objectivism, I just think it's stupid."

"I'm not afraid of Objectivism, I just think its unnatural."

"I'm not afraid of Objectivism, I just think it's disgusting."

"I'm not afraid of Objectivism, I just think it's wrong."

It is usually not the case, for Randaphobic persons, that the basis of their attitudes towards Objectivism is rational reasoning, or intellectual argumentation. Therefore, one seldom if ever will see statements like these:

"I believe that premise 'X' of Objectivism is erroneous, because premise 'Y' is the correct one, based on the following observations about reality . . ."

"There is an error in the logic of Objectivism in argument 'A.' The next logical inference in this string is not 'B,' but 'C'."

Indeed, once an individual engages Objectivism to this extent, he may be on the road to recovery. Sadly, it is still not known what causes an individual exhibiting Randaphobia to engage Objectivism in a substantive manner such as this.

Readers are invited to add to the list of symptoms or otherwise modify this definition in Wikipedia fashion. Perhaps the definition will be added to Wikipedia at some point. The author has made some small effort to avoid the use of normative terms in this, but has little doubt that some value judgments were nevertheless imported.