Taranto's Straw Man

In today's BotWT, Taranto takes a gratuitous swipe at Ayn Rand. Now this is not surprising, since it's part of his style, but what makes it remarkable is the straw man he uses to discredit her. Instead of linking to her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, or to the organization which bears her name, he picks some random course notes from an introductory philosophy course -- notes which completely misrepresent her position -- and somehow expects his readers to be swayed by this. He must have a pretty low opinion of his audience to employ such tactics, and I bet that this disdain will be his eventual downfall.