Ayn Rand was a crackpot

Wonderful! I'm glad you did, and I look forward to a good, civil debate.Just a quick note before we begin: What my opponent may deem Ad hominem arguments are perfectly fine to be used in this situation, because the personal character of Ayn Rand is being assessed. I do have the burden of proof, and yes, you "win by default" if I cannot prove that Ayn Rand is a crackpot. However, as I say below, I can and will use any part of the definition of crackpot to prove her crackpottish qualities.You "demand", eh? Quite the feisty one... Because I am so incredibly generous and warmhearted, I have prepared definitions of "crackpot" by 4 major dictionaries as follows:Merriam-Webster American English Dictionary: Crackpot: "one given to eccentric or lunatic notions." Site: [http://www.merriam-webster.com...]Dictionary.com: Crackpot: "a person who is eccentric, unrealistic, or fanatical." Site: [http://dictionary.reference.com...=] Oxford English Dictionary: Crackpot: "an eccentric or foolish person." [Site: http://oxforddictionaries.com...;].Cambridge American English Dictionary: "a crazy or strange person." Site: [http://dictionary.cambridge.org...].Note the recurring words and ideas: (1) Eccentric/Strange (2) Lunatic/Unrealistic (3) Foolish/CrazyEccentric/Strange refers to a devation from usual custom/pattern;Whereas Lunatic/Unrealistic refers to innapropriation to reality and fact; Wheareas Foolish/Crazy refers to lacking in sense, judgement or discretion.All three of these are seperate and different, and can each be used (solitarily or multilaterally) to prove that Ayn Rand was a crackpot. The definition of crackpot is not necessarily limited to any one of these, be it Eccentric, Unrealistic or Fanatical. It is instead different things that alone each define crackpot but as all put together more easily define crackpottish characteristics. Just like you can determine what species a bird belongs to by its feather and not the rest, a crackpot can be described by any of these characteristics. That is my final judgement on this subject.ARGUMENTS BEGIN HERE.Ayn Rand is eccentric and strange, as well as being a lunatic, and unrealistic, in a wide detachment from reality. There is simply no disputing this. 1. Eccentric: deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways (Merriam-Webster AED)Ayn Rand held beliefs that were eccentric at the time, such as Atheism. According to estimates compiled by researchers at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, the percentage of religions in the world in 1900 is as follows: Atheism: 0.03% [Which Ayn Rand belongs to]Christianity: 72.4%Judaism: 1.6%Islam: 26% [Source: http://bit.ly...]"Ayn Rand was an atheist. According to her one-time associate Barbara Branden, Rand became an atheist at age thirteen. Branden records Rand writing in her diary at that age: "Today I decided to be an atheist." Branden then reports her as later explaining, "I had decided that the concept of God is degrading to men. Since they say that God is perfect, man can never be that perfect, then man is low and imperfect and there is something above him – which is wrong." [Branden, PAR, p. 35.] Branden continues that Rand's "second reason" is that "no proof of the existence of God exists." [Source: http://bit.ly...]Ayn Rand was an Individualist, which according to Stephen Cox of the Atlas Society, was "outmoded, discredited, and even dangerous [during 1943].""Easiest to specify is the book's political and ideological significance... More than any other work, The Fountainhead reawakened popular enthusiasm for a way of thinking, and a way of life, that in 1943 was regarded by virtually every sector of intellectual opinion as outmoded, discredited, and even dangerous." [Source: http://bit.ly...]Ayn Rand held many controversial positions during her lifetime. She:(1) Supported abortion rights. [Burns, Source 1, Heller, Source 2](2) Opposed the Vietnam War and the military draft. [Rand, Source 3, Burns, Source 1](3) Supported Israel in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. [Burns, Heller](4) Saying European Colonists had the right to take land from American Indians. [Burns, Heller](5) Called homosexuality “immoral” and “disgusting”, while advocating the repeal of all laws against it. [Heller]Being a social and intellectual deviant in many ways earns her the title of Eccentric/Strange.2. Lunatic/UnrealisticAyn Rand was a hypocrite. “Morally and economically,” wrote Rand in a 1972 newsletter, “the welfare state creates an ever accelerating downward pull.” Yet, from 1974 to 1982 (her death), she collected $11,002 in Social Security, to help pay for treatment of lung cancer caused by cigarettes. [Source 4] Ayn Rand enjoyed smoking two packs a day and, according to William R. Thomas of the Atlas Society, “she liked the symbolism of a person being able to hold fire at his fingertips, representing man's control over nature.” [Source 5] In Atlas Shrugged, one character said “When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind–and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression.” Even though at the time she was diagnosed with lung cancer (1974) there was widespread evidence that smoking did cause cancer, she denied that and continued to assert that there was no “conclusive, nonstatistical proof” that smoking caused cancer. [Heller, Source 2] Ayn Rand was racist. She said that “The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it's the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are. Israel is a mixed economy inclined toward socialism. But when it comes to the power of the mind—the development of industry in that wasted desert continent—versus savages who don't want to use their minds.” [Ayn Rand Institute, Transcript, Source 6] What an awful, false generalization of Arab culture. Signs of lunacy and detachment from reality most certainly include hypocrisy, denial of well established scientific fact, and racism.All in all, Ayn Rand was most certainly a crackpot, in the full sense of the word.SOURCES:[1] Burns, Jennifer (2009). Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-532487-7.OCLC313665028.[2] Heller, Anne C. (2009). Ayn Rand and the World She Made. New York: Doubleday. ISBN978-0-385-51399-9. OCLC229027437.[3] Rand, Ayn (2005). Mayhew, Robert. ed. Ayn Rand Answers, the Best of Her Q&A. New York: New American Library. ISBN0-451-21665-2.OCLC59148253.[4] FOIA Request. http://www.patiastephens.com...[5] http://www.atlassociety.org...[6] http://www.aynrand.org...