Lots and lots of people, actually. Many identify with the tough-talkin’ images being projected, believing it’s just what the world needs and that the magic sorting hat will assign them to the privileged class when the dust settles.

In my defense, my family of origin revolved around a cookie cutter Atlas Shrugged minor villain dad - gaslighter, business cheat and mooch, compulsive womanizer - so Atlas Shrugged’s heroes were the fantasy I needed when I read it. I knew I wasn’t a “John Galt” so I tinkered with a dutiful Eddie Willers identity for a bit. Some good still came out of it - I got interested in philosophy as a respectable formal academic topic, and outgrew the fantasy.