OK, so a few days ago, I serve up an excerpt from a parody of Atlas Shrugged, so what does Google ads serve up?

Gifts for Proud Producers and Capitalists Everywhere!^*

Ummmm….OK…I have nothing but contempt for Ayn Rand and routinely mock her and her followers, calling them “Randroids”, and in this case, I am spreading mockery of what she and her “Randroids” consider to be her magnum opus, and I get an ad serving a company dedicated to lionizing a horrible person and a lousy writer.^†

Then again, perhaps the proprietor is mocking her too. There is a notice at the bottom of the page:

JohnGaltGifts.com is not in any way affiliated with or sponsored by the estate of Ayn Rand ®, the Ayn Rand ® Institute (ARI), Dr. Leonard Peikoff, or any other organization or company.

It appears to me that this means that the T-shirt and sticker maker is using the fruit of Ayn Rand’s intellectual output to enrich himself, which is specifically what Rand condemned.

If that’s the case, it’s a very subtle and sophisticated parody.

^*I’m linking because I’m complaining, it’s only fair.
^†While I have never read Atlas Shrugged, nor do I intend to, I have read The Virtue of Selfishness in 1980 as part of a philosophy of literature class in high school, and it was awful. Emanuel Kant was more readable.