The Power of Information (Monica Rodriguez)

            This weeks reading summed up the entire point of this book in a little over 50 pages. Galt’s speech plainly stated all of the ideals that Rand had already made evident earlier in the book. When I began reading the speech I was terribly exciting in the face of another one of the moments of victory over the looters that I had discussed in last week’s post. Once again one of the producers, or men of the mind as Galt refers to them, would triumph over the looters simply by taking control of the information available to the public. After about five pages devoted to this triumph my excitement dwindled, as Galt became repetitive, preaching the same concept over and over again only using different words and metaphors. I think that that speech, much like this novel, was too far drawn out and made its point early on. Nevertheless once I managed to reach the end, and after I participated in a little victory dance in reward for finishing the seemingly endless speech, I did appreciate its occurrence in the novel. It serves as a sort of climax that the earlier triumphs were leading up to.

After reading about the repercussions of this speech I realized the true importance of information and the power it brings to those who are in control of it in this novel. The looters controlled the general population by controlling the information they had access to. Once Galt tore down the wall and let the public know another view on the nature of the moral code they lived by, the public went wild, many completely abandoning previous ideals and harming those who lived by them. Galt gave them a new ideal to live by and instead of thinking for themselves and finding a healthy balance between the two sides they pushed themselves wholeheartedly on his side. In his speech Galt stressed the importance of using ones mind and how those who blindly followed the ideas of others were just as to blame for the state of the economy as the looters. However when they blindly follow his ideas they are still not thinking for themselves. It frustrates me how the public naively follow whoever is the spotlight and I have come to the decision that the economic situation is not the fault of the looters but is actually the fault of all of those who followed them and made their rise to power possible.