Commentary on the Portrayal of Galt and his Society

This reading has sufficiently blown my mind, and quelled my suspicions. As the disappearances of industry leaders were becoming more and more frequent, I knew there had to be someone bringing them somewhere. The cigarettes seemed like a sort of invitation to join this society and the way that everybody spoke before disappearing sounded like they had been convinced to join a separate society. With this, it is easy to conclude that John Galt is representative of the Jesus of Randism. Galt represents what it truly means to be a hardcore capitalist. I had a feeling that all these disappearances had some sort of message that the people were trying to send to the government, they were not just leaving for no reason. Yet it is interesting that Galt is portraying himself and his actions from a completely innocent point of view. He keeps saying that they did not destroy the world by leaving, Galt blames it entirely on the actions of the looters and the government. Yet it is pretty clear that the world went to shit because all the industry leaders left. I would believe Galt if he were in public contact with the government or some other organization in order to communicate his message, yet he seems hell-bent on keeping his little society a secret to those who are not worthy of its awesomeness. Yet because of this secrecy, the message Galt is trying to send is not being received, the government is running rampant, taking the disappearances as a message that their methods are succeeding in quelling the selfishness that they find in society. Therefore, personally, I find that Galt is representative of the destruction of the nation, not the government, because Galt’s perception of his society and strike seem almost childish. As soon as he could not perfect his motor and benefit for himself, he retaliated and decided to through one of the biggest hissy-fits in the world. He basically said, if I cannot have success, then no one can, and so the secret society of aristocrats commanded by John Galt in the city of Atlantis was born. Personally, I feel that Galt's underlying selfishness will destroy not only the world outside of his society, but the entire concept of humanity.