Turns out when you buy expensive yoga clothing from Casas Adobes retailer Lululemon, you’re also making a statement about those who rely on their own self-interests:

You might be wondering why a company that makes yoga clothing has chosen a legendary literary character’s name to adorn the side of our bags. lululemon’s founder, Chip Wilson, first read this book when he was eighteen years old working away from home. Only later, looking back, did he realize the impact the book’s ideology had on his quest to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness (it is not coincidental that this is lululemon’s company vision).

In “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand describes a society where people work and reside in government-controlled environments that are tightly regimented. Without realizing it, this control created a society of mediocrity; propagating a cycle of listless, uninspired existing as opposed to living. The character John Galt encouraged all of the world’s innovators and intelligent minds to go on strike from the increasingly controlling government in order to create a vacuum of brilliance, proving that independent creativity and free-will is critical for quality of life.

[…]

Our bags are visual reminders for ourselves to live a life we love and conquer the epidemic of mediocrity. We all have a John Galt inside of us, cheering us on. How are we going to live lives we love?

This must totally be what Buddha had in mind.

[Time]

This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2011.

The editor of the Tucson Weekly. I have no idea how I got here.

9 replies on “I Don’t Suspect Ayn Rand Was a Yoga Fan”

  1. I just read Atlas Shrugged, one of the best books I have ever read. I can see why progressive liberals do not like it. Shows what happens with socialism and the redistribution of wealth. Rains on the parade of liberals marching to their imaginary utopia.
    I see it today in society, just as in the book, politicians voting themselves more control and more laws, then when bad things happen from their actions. Screaming it is not their fault. Liberal media only reporting what is good for their agenda. Of course this paper is excluded because it holds no resemblance any journalism.

  2. Reading Atlas Shrugged is an experience without any parallel. It reaches to one’s core. At the same time, it’s got a suspenseful, riveting plot. I’ve read it 9 times over the years. Each time, I get more out of it, find deeper levels of meaning and more understanding not only of philosophy but of human relations.

    Atlas is not really about politics. That’s only the consequence. The fundamental is the new moral standard–man’s life qua man–and a new code of values and virtues, with the primary virtue as rationality, the choice to use one’s mind to the fullest.

    “If I were to speak your kind of language, I would say that man’s only moral commandment is: Thou shalt think. But a ‘moral commandment’ is a contradiction in terms. The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments.

    “My morality, the morality of reason, is contained in a single axiom: existence exists — and in a single choice: to live. The rest proceeds from these. To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason — Purpose — Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge — Purpose, as his choice of the happiness which that tool must proceed to achieve — self-esteem, as his inviolate certainty that his mind is competent to think and his person is worthy of happiness, which means: is worthy of living.”

    Harry Binswanger, Ph.D.

  3. “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.”–someone

    Atlas Shrugged is definitely a fantasy: it relies on magical metals built by magical machines that provide perpetual energy, has completely unrealistic characters, and was written by an insane, drug-addled, monomaniacal hypocrite. But other than that, I guess some people enjoy it so I can’t complain about it as long as they don’t insist that it be my guiding principle. It’s no more wacky than the Book of Mormon, The Bible, Quran, or the completely sexist and insane principles behind Buddhism, but it’s no more realistic or rational either.

  4. Well, mr. meade, how comforting it must be to have the certainty that any writing you disagree with is both wacky and insane and its author unrealistic, irrational, hypocritical, drug-addicted, monomaniacal and also insane. Impartiality is so becoming in a critic. It’s not hard to guess what YOUR guiding principle is, and it’s no prettier than your prose.

  5. Well, our current situation seems a little different that Atlas Shrugged. Our world is controlled by multi-national corporations that have a well developed media machine that convinces the masses that evil lies in the government – all the while extracting the economic and personal power from the remains of the middle class. Expecting that any author, or any person, can provide a meaningful idealogy 60 years into the future, where complexity is increasing so rapidly, is highly unrealistic.

  6. Matthew, go read an honest biography of Ayn Rand and you will see that Mr. Meade’s particulars against her are absolutely correct: she was a pill-popping zealot who had the personality and convictions of a dictator and all the morals of a weasel on speed.

    Much like fundamentalists confronted by their holy writ’s cognitive dissonance, Atlas Shrugged fans shriek like lobsters being dropped into boiling water when their hero’s feet of clay are pointed out. Facts are such inconvenient things to true believers….

  7. Mr. or Ms. Fletcher, I was not defending Ayn Rand but merely commenting on the furious vilification of her by mr.meade. Both of you seem to bear a very strong resentment of her. Perhaps that is because she has acquired so many followers for reasons that you consider cultish nonsense.

    I am neither one of the zealots who worship her nor one of the zealots who despise her; I simply found a couple of her books entertaining even though I was skeptical of the “philosophy,” just as I am skeptical of our current politicians’ philosophy. I do love your metaphor about the morals of a weasel on speed and will probably plagiarize it.

  8. I really hope Atlas Shrugged does really well on DVD. I saw it in theatres and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. Jsu Garcia was wonderful as Francisco D’Anconia and I thought they did just such a wonderful job with Ayn Rand’s classic. (I worked with Jsu Garcia on the feature film he did after Atlas Shrugged – The Wayshower) Atlas Shrugged has such a powerful message, so appropriate for today and the world we’re living in right now. Definitely feels like there are many wonderful movies coming out helping to lift consciousness. I mean Harry Potter, while they’re fantasy, they’re really bringing an incredible message for both young and old – about going within and finding your strength and being the change and goodness you want more of in your world. And Inception, Adjustment Bureau, and more.
    Working on the movie ‘The Wayshower’, (inspired by the life of John-Roger) with Jsu Garcia, (and favorites Academy Award nominees Eric Roberts and Sally Kirkland) was incredible and I really hope it gets massive attention when it’s released next March. It’s so courageous and forward thinking in regards to a very metaphysical abstract portrayal of the journey we all take throughout life and the relationships we have with special mentors and teachers – special Wayshowers that enrich and change our lives forever. I loved this movie so much. So different and ground breaking. Check it out: http://thewayshower.com (sign up for free fanletter including free screening invites)

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