I’ve also come to appreciate that my biggest fault was perhaps the length of the post, which caused people to expect more than a simple thought experiment could deliver.
No, your biggest flaw is that the thought experiment amounts to little more than an excuse to attack hated enemies. Specifically it looks like: if [philosophy you don’t approve of] can be associated (however tenuously) with [bad thing X], I as the devil will promote said philosophy. If [philosophy I approve of] is widely associated with [bad thing Y], I as the devil will seek to discredit said philosophy by associating it with [bad thing Y].
I must admit I am still surprised by the reaction to that one line about Ayn Rand, which I thought was largely irrelevant to the main point of the post.
Then why did you include it? See this post by EY where he advises against using political examples to illustrate not political points.
(Ayn Rand is not necessarily responsible for the behaviour of her followers, much like Richard Dawkins wasn’t responsible for the reaction to The Selfish Gene, etc. This doesn’t change the fact that both were used for political ends.)
Notice your attempt at guilt by association there. You are trying to associate the behavior of Ayn Rand’s followers with some of the bad behavior of people who read The Selfish Gene, without explicitly calling said behaviour bad, or providing any examples of bad behavior. All you mention is that she was “used for political ends”, well, duh, she was explicitly trying to be political. Another example is here were you appear to be trying to implicate Paul Ryan with supporting crony capitalism, without explicitly saying that he supports it (which would be false).
No, your biggest flaw is that the thought experiment amounts to little more than an excuse to attack hated enemies. Specifically it looks like: if [philosophy you don’t approve of] can be associated (however tenuously) with [bad thing X], I as the devil will promote said philosophy. If [philosophy I approve of] is widely associated with [bad thing Y], I as the devil will seek to discredit said philosophy by associating it with [bad thing Y].
Then why did you include it? See this post by EY where he advises against using political examples to illustrate not political points.
Notice your attempt at guilt by association there. You are trying to associate the behavior of Ayn Rand’s followers with some of the bad behavior of people who read The Selfish Gene, without explicitly calling said behaviour bad, or providing any examples of bad behavior. All you mention is that she was “used for political ends”, well, duh, she was explicitly trying to be political. Another example is here were you appear to be trying to implicate Paul Ryan with supporting crony capitalism, without explicitly saying that he supports it (which would be false).