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xchrom (106,336 posts) How Ayn Rand Brought You Kim Kardashian and the Cult of Self-Obsessed Celebrity http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-ayn-rand-brought-you-kim-kardashian-and-cult-self-obsessed-celebrity Just about any philosopher or religious leader, not to mention nearly anyone you meet walking down the street, could tell you that selfishness is not a virtue. If you are old enough to apply for a driver’s license, you can probably work out that selfish behavior has detrimental effects on all of us. Even if you’re not quite ready to give it up. But not Ayn Rand. The 20th-century doyenne of destructive capitalism, dear to self-centered college sophomores and those, like Paul Ryan, who have not yet grown out of their me-first phase, declared aloud what a lot of jerks tend to keep to themselves: the idea that selfishness is awesome. Rand even wrote a book on the theme, The Virtue of Selfishness. In Rand’s vision of individualism gone wild, total selfishness is transformed from a vice into the highest aim of human existence. The male heroes of her novels, when they aren’t having coercive sex with women (He moved one hand, took her two wrists and pinned them behind her, under his arm, wrenching her shoulder blades)are busy spouting their enthusiasm for selfishness, like Howard Roark, the architect in Rand's novel The Fountainhead. “The first right on earth is the right of the ego,†declares Roark. “Man’s first duty is to himself.†From Rand’s warped perspective, self-sacrifice is demeaning and altruism is barbaric and corruptive. Any denial of the self is pure wickedness. To live only for yourself and do just want you want, whenever you want to do it, is the greatest good.
How does one explain this?
They sure waste a lot of time worrying about what someone else is supposed to be giving to them.
Roark seems doomed, but he rouses the courtroom with a statement about the value of selfishness and the need to remain true to oneself. Roark describes the triumphant role of creators and the price they pay at the hands of corrupt societies. The jury finds him not guilty.
Brain damage.
