EmilyDoersam

I don't think labelling Rand's thinking as right wing or left wing is at all relevant, considering she herself thought of her views as a completely different branch of philosphy. The Fountainhead is quite good. A bit of a light read, considering what's out there. You could definately go ahead and read it just for the story and ignore the meaning behind it, I think.

It's definately a noble idea, I think, to try and help those around you. In some cases I feel like real life vigilantes hide their true identities because they're scared of the repercussions they may be confronted with uncostumed (i.e. some huge steroid thug beating on you because he's unintimidated by your stained TMNT tshirt and glasses). If hiding your face is what is going to make you brave enough to stand up to a bully then go for it, but even in comic books it's sometimes questioned whether superheroes (and/or vigilantes) are helpful, or if they just attract supervillains and bad guys.