First, let it be known that despite the fact that the Google Search Stops Here (“We’re Number 1!!! We’re Number 1!!!”), we did not coin the phrase, “Our Galtian Overlords” — no, that was either Atrios or John Cole. So, with that disclaimer and without further ado, here is an inquiry we received this morning, and our reply to it.
The letter:
Help — what does “Galtian Overlords” mean? I mean, I get who you’re talking about, but what is the reference to?
Thanks,
Rosalind
Our response (before we’d had any coffee, mind you):
Dear Rosalind,
In the children’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, there is a running refrain among the characters that goes like this:
“Who is John Galt?”
John Galt is, it goes without saying, a superhuman business genius extraordinaire. He also lacks any sense of civic duty, being a man-child narcissist of the first order (Here I should probably disclose that I have not, in fact, read Ms. Rand’s masterpiece, and that all of this is based on hearsay and slander). Anyway, long story short, ever since Barack Obama was elected president, there have been empty threats from various right-wingers and libertarians — people who think rather too highly of themselves — about “Going Galt.” To wit, dropping out of society and keeping the spoils of their hard-earned labor all to themselves. Many of these people don’t seem to realize that the rest of the country doesn’t give a fuck about their empty threats, and yet the threats have continued. “I’m going Galt, and I’m taking away my productivity, and let’s see if society can survive without me, harrumph!” To which America replies with a shrug. “Go ahead,” says America, “see if I give a flying fuck about you selfish assholes.”
So that takes care of the “Galtian” part. “Overlords” are overlords. “Our Galtian overlords” is, then, something of a joke. We make fun of selfish rich people with visions of grandeur, because we know full well that Ayn Rand and her characters are mostly idolized by disaffected high school students, not anybody who matters (because, you know, most people grow up, their acne clears, and they free themselves from their solipsistic bubbles). That said, there are indeed rich man-children who consider Rand to be a good writer and a deep thinker. Some of them have gotten press attention. Last summer, in the wake of the passage of Obamacare and at the height of the silliness, many outraged fellow citizens were warning that they might “Go Galt,” and that America would be doomed were they to do so. (These people did not, apparently, realize that with an unemployment rate of 10%, there would be plenty of qualified candidates to fill their positions once they’d left — again, the trouble with narcissism.)
“Our Gatian overlords,” then, are the acolytes of Ayn Rand, whose lack of self-awareness and inflated sense of self-importance (thinking that if they alone don’t pay taxes, America is screwed, e.g.) are symptoms of a larger cultural decay and a shirking of civic responsibility. They are the kids on the playground who always hogged the kickball — and moreover they are the kids who went running to the teacher if somebody else deigned to hog it, for even just a moment, because “THAT’S NOT FAIR, I’M BETTER THAN YOU!!!”
They are a scourge. They must be defeated.
All the best,
Tom O’Hare, editor
Thanks for the explanation – it was clear and helpful. However, as someone who has read and does admire many things in Atlas Shrugged, I think you might find it helpful to actually read the book before further promulgating this idea and language. I’m not saying it will change your mind. I myself am of a liberal and social bent, so when I first read the book I encountered many things that challenged me from a moral and ethical standpoint. I have, however, read it several times sense, and although there are certainly criticisms to be made, I think your above interpretation is a simplistic analysis that overlooks very meaningful concepts worthy of consideration. Do I support the conservative policies that use the book to support their politics? No. Nor, I suspect, would I have been aligned with Ms. Rand herself in the political foray. However, I do find insightful and accurate, if unorthodox, ideas presented in her writing. She was an excellent study of character, and she had strong ideals. That’s something we can all benefit from.
Again, thanks for the explanation of the term above. I did not know how it was being used in the context I encountered it.
I have read the book, and others of Ayn’s.
This explanation is spot on and i enjoyed reading it.
Sorry to hear you subscribe to any of the dribble in the Rand books.
When you get out and work in the real world, perhaps you’ll have an awakening.
Any follower of Jesus’ teachings would have trouble not slapping the daylights out of Rand’s followers.
AEG, I read Atlas Shrugged too. It’s a bit more complicated than ‘ The Fountainhead’ . You see the Fountainhead was about a architect, Gary Cooper, that was way smarter than most of the dolts he was forced to endure each day. These idiots didn’t recognize his sheer genius, and he was forced to design service stations for a living. Then one of his friends paid Cooper to design some housing projects, but without letting anyone know who the real architect was. When his friend screwed up Cooper’s designs, Cooper dynamited the construction site into a pile of rubble, got caught and hauled into court. However Cooper was so eloquent in describing his philosophy that the jury let him go free. Sounds like you have been swayed by the sheer eloquence of Rand’s BS.
Atlas shrugged was however, was about what the useful and productive people did when they got tried of all the moochers and looters, the useless people, taking all their stuff. They ran off to Colorado and formed a commune, while a bunch of stupid people choked to death on exhaust fumes in a train tunnel. What was really cool about this commune is that it was hidden from the stupid people by a secret cloaking device, like the Klingons have. Even cooler was that this cloaking device and the whole commune was powered by a perpetual motion machine that John Galt invented.
This nonsense is the basis of conservative philosophy. I admit I did leave out the juicy parts, ie the long rambling speeches the protagonists in each book torture the reader with. However, I see the connection, as both Rand and Republicans only make sense if you suspend reality and accept magical thinking.