Randroid

English

Etymology

Blend of Rand +‎ android.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

Randroid (plural Randroids)

1. (slang, derogatory) A supporter of Ayn Rand's philosophies, particularly an overzealous one.
   • 1980 — Barry B. Longyear, Science Fiction Writer's Workshop-I: An Introduction to Fiction Mechanics, iUniverse (2002), →ISBN, page 123:

     Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The only trouble with Rand's brand of "freedom" is having to take your brain to the cleaners weekly. Libertarians and Randroids. Always walking around and muttering to themselves; worrying about everyone else's lack of morals. Never met a bigger bunch of crooks in my life.

   • 2007, Wayne Dwight Richards, Richard Ransdell, & LaDawna Word-Denslow, Dragon Drive: A Comedia Mundana‎^[1], iUniverse, →ISBN:

     […] She was a very unpleasant lady, and one of the most unpleasant things about her was that she was what you might call a 'born-again Randroid,' someone who'd taken Ayn Rand's teachings to such extremes that she made Rand herself look like a flaming liberal by comparison. You know the type?"

   • 2011, Cole Stryker, Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan's Army Conquered the Web‎^[2], The Overlook Press, →ISBN:

     Despite being populated by Randroids (Ayn Rand devotees) and sci-fi geeks, 4chan's literature board is another that continually surprises with clever content.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Randroid.

Adjective

Randroid (comparative more Randroid, superlative most Randroid)

1. (slang, derogatory) Supporting Ayn Rand's philosophies, particularly overzealously.
   • 1999, Jeff Walker, The Ayn Rand Cult, Open Court, →ISBN, page 199:

     Their high-minded contextually-applied principles typically deteriorated in practice into a ranting rule-mongering no more edifying than that of the plebeian Randroid contingent.

   • 2004, Tibor R. Machan, The Man Without A Hobby: Adventures of a Gregarious Egoist, Hamilton Books, →ISBN, page 107:

     At the same meeting I was interviewed by the philosopher and historian George Walsh, a follower of Ayn Rand. The interview turned out to be a disaster, for after it had already been scheduled Walsh heard from Harry Binswanger — a Randroid loyalist I used to call the Basil Rathbone of the Objectivist gang, since since he seemed to fit the image of a ruthless henchman — that I was a "liar."

   • 2024 March 18, Andrew Marantz, quoting Scott Alexander, “О.К., Doomer”, in The New Yorker, page 50:

     “Socialists think we're sociopathic Randroid moneyobsessed Silicon Valley hypercapitalists. But Silicon Valley thinks we're all overregulation-loving authoritarian communist bureaucrats. . . . Get in now, while it’s still unpopular!”