I'm still trying to figure out the point of this article. I think the author is trying to discredit Travis Kalanick and Uber by associating them with Ayn Rand, but the argument seems to backfire.
Besides the fact that the article is annoyingly snarky, it just doesn't make good arguments. There are much better ways to criticize Uber than raving about some Ayn Rand connection. The writing meanders through several topics, but seems to be just grasping at threads. The author wants us to believe that Travis is some sort of Objectivist Fundamentalist, but fails to tie them together with anything more substantive than a Twitter profile picture and three year old forum post.
However, I do have to give him credit for creative character assassination. He includes lots of suggestive anecdotes (e.g. caricaturing Travis as "downright adolescent"), re-educates us with some condescending philosophical mischaracterizations (though he seems rather desperate in his attempts to portray Rand as the Worst Person In The World), and tops it off with some complete non-sequiturs (like trying to convince us that, hypothetically, if faced with Airbnb's problems, Travis would've ruined everything, all because of Ayn Rand).
I honestly can't tell if this article was motivated more by the author's hate of Travis or his hate of Ayn Rand. I imagine he already hated Travis, but upon noticing Travis' twitter icon, became irate and penned this screed.
My favorite part:
> Worse still, Rand inspired Paul Ryan, The Tea Party and the Koch Brothers.
You read right -- Uber is basically The Tea Party. So overall, I think the author does a better job of discrediting himself than anything else.
The implication that it's automatically bad to support Paul Ryan or support the Tea Party, and the declaration that anyone who defended Uber on Twitter was an 'idiot' is somewhat astounding considering the author rails against internet bullying at the beginning.
I'm personally convinced that the tech world getting politicized is absolutely the worst thing it can do for itself.
Besides the fact that the article is annoyingly snarky, it just doesn't make good arguments. There are much better ways to criticize Uber than raving about some Ayn Rand connection. The writing meanders through several topics, but seems to be just grasping at threads. The author wants us to believe that Travis is some sort of Objectivist Fundamentalist, but fails to tie them together with anything more substantive than a Twitter profile picture and three year old forum post.
However, I do have to give him credit for creative character assassination. He includes lots of suggestive anecdotes (e.g. caricaturing Travis as "downright adolescent"), re-educates us with some condescending philosophical mischaracterizations (though he seems rather desperate in his attempts to portray Rand as the Worst Person In The World), and tops it off with some complete non-sequiturs (like trying to convince us that, hypothetically, if faced with Airbnb's problems, Travis would've ruined everything, all because of Ayn Rand).
I honestly can't tell if this article was motivated more by the author's hate of Travis or his hate of Ayn Rand. I imagine he already hated Travis, but upon noticing Travis' twitter icon, became irate and penned this screed.
My favorite part:
> Worse still, Rand inspired Paul Ryan, The Tea Party and the Koch Brothers.
You read right -- Uber is basically The Tea Party. So overall, I think the author does a better job of discrediting himself than anything else.