Ayn Rand liked cats. She also wrote repetitive, long-winded books and developed Objectivism, the philosophical system for people who pleasure themselves over thoughts of laissez-faire capitalism and believe that self-interest is the highest moral purpose and that’s that, the objective truth, fuck you. But she also really liked cats, so much that she engaged in correspondence with Cat Fancy magazine on March 20, 1966, writing:
Dear Miss Smith,
You ask whether I own cats or simply enjoy them, or both. The answer is: both. I love cats in general and own two in particular.
You ask: “We are assuming that you have an interest in cats, or was your subscription strictly objective?” My subscription was strictly objective because I have an interest in cats. I can demonstrate objectively that cats are of a great value, and the carter issue of Cat Fancy magazine can serve as part of the evidence. (“Objective” does not mean “disinterested” or indifferent; it means corresponding to the facts of reality and applies both to knowledge and to values.)
I subscribed to Cat Fancy primarily for the sake of the picture, and found the charter issue very interesting and enjoyable.
Big up to Rand for even responding to bait — tying objectivism to cats is like applying the String Theory to jealousy. A stretch. And yet, she manages to do so, in the driest way possible. Because “values” — even the ones found in a cuddly, fuzzy, lovable kitty — are purely objective, because Ayn Rand is feeling objectively stating them. Unlike the emotions of people that sway their moral values to care for other, less fortunate human beings, chortle chortle, how delightful. (Text image: The Letters of Ayn Rand; hat tip: @mallelis)
