Ayn Rand was one of the greatest philosophers of the
twentieth century. Her novels and her philosophy of Objectivism were the voice
of reason that was most needed in the tumultuous era in which she lived. It is
not just on the internet, but in the general mindset of our time that there are
unjustified dismissals of her ideas and her philosophy. Those
refutations and dismissals that I have read thus far have been largely founded
upon ad hominem attacks or on largely distorted strawmen of her ideas. It is
expected that anyone who disagrees with an idea of someone else will not
explore their reasoning and philosophy in great depth, so this outright hatred
of Rand can be easily explained. However, it is not warranted. The philosophy
outlined by Rand in the novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead contain important
values that every intellectual should give due consideration. It is primarily
among liberal and “leftist” thinkers that she has been dismissed and spat upon.
If more people would take the time to understand Rand’s philosophy instead of
resorting to the popular distortions and disfigurements of her work, then the
current state of intellectual debate and the world in general may be improved.
The underlining trend in Ayn Rand’s novels is the role of the
individual in society. Contrary to her belief, it is according to modern political philosophy that man
ought to exist for the benefit of society, or the state. Look no further than
the laws enacted by many governments around the world to see how this is true.
Drug prohibition, for instance is a manifestation of the notion that man is
incapable of making decisions in his own self-interest and thus requires an
authority figure to make them in his favour. Such laws are insulting and
useless. Although things like drug use, homosexual relations, gun ownership, and
pornography have been restricted by government regulation, these laws have been
of no effect and are a gross allocation of otherwise productive resources.
Government action is incapable of thwarting the decisions made by individual
men. It is powerless in attempting to alter the private behaviour made by the
people who supposedly live under its control. Laws that are enacted as a means
of trying to regulate human behaviour only serve as a means to lower the
standard of living for those in society and reduce the idea of man to that of a
moronic automaton who is at the whim of any influence of the given moment. Laws
that prohibit the individual to make decisions for him/herself only enforce the
stupidity and degeneracy that are so prevalent in our modern culture.
The philosophy of Ayn Rand advocates the complete opposite of
what authoritarian laws attempt to enforce. Objectivism states that man’s individual
perception of the world around him is the only reliable source of sensory input
on which he is to pass judgment. The moral claims of those around him must only
be considered as secondary sources. Consider the following hypothetical
scenario:
You are living in Nazi-occupied territory at the height of
the Second World War. Those around you are all singing the praises of Der
Fuhrer and proclaiming that the Jews are subhuman and must be
exterminated. However, you happen to be
a person of rational and highly-developed moral faculties and you see the
disgusting hatred and bigotry of their beliefs. Despite strong influence to the
contrary, you refuse to join the SS and turn over some Jews you know to be in
hiding to the SS, who you know will not treat them with general kindness.
Rightfully, by doing so, you have made an individual rational judgment against
the popular belief of those around you. Despite the revolting intolerance and
racism that is pervasive in that place and era, you refuse to go against your
moral principles and turn innocent people over to the hands of a violent
tyranny. By doing so, you are adhering to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of individuality
and objectivism.
The opponents of Rand will try to twist her philosophy into a
disgraceful representation of chauvinism and a disregard for the lives of
others. Ayn Rand never advocated that anyone ought to disregard the lives and
liberties of other human beings. In fact, contrary to what the liberal thinkers
of our time will tell you, Rand was one of the most passionate proponents of
individual rights in recent memory. Objectivism in a nutshell denounces the use
of coercion and force in human relationships. She viewed the tyrannies of
Hitler, Stalin, Franco, and Mussolini to be unjust and evil.
The initiation of force is the cause of all evil. From thieves,
to murderers, to extortionists, to frauds, to despots, the one consistent source
of human anguish and global conflict is the use and the threat of violence. Only
cowards and sociopaths feel they are justified to rule over other human beings
through the barrel of a gun. Freedom is the only proper state for man to exist.
Objectivism states that rational self-interest is the way
that man can achieve his goals. It is not through violence, or subjugation, or
extortion. Socialism and Communism by their very definitions violate these
fundamental principles and which is why Rand is so hated in our modern culture.
It is because she believed in freedom of choice and in individualism. She loved
the concept of man as a self-sufficient, rational being and not the concept of
man as an imbecilic ghoul who needs the state to make decisions for him.
Socialism can only justify its morality if it can establish that an individual’s
choices are not his/her own. Socialism succeeds in that it propagates the
notion that success and failure are not contingent upon a man’s ability, but on
some indescribable external factor. Because socialist and statist ideas are so
prevalent in our modern culture, this is why many people hate Ayn Rand. It is
because she believed in personal responsibility and freedom.
The reaction of the enslaved man to the idea of freedom is
one of panic and denial. It is very much like the reaction of the woeful
denizens in the Allegory of Plato’s Cave. When exposed to the light of reason
and rationality, they hide and cower like cornered rats. Those who are
dependent on the government do not believe freedom to be possible. They do not
trust their own ability to make decisions and proclaim judgments for themselves
because they are so used to being treated like experimental animals in the
grand scheme of tyrannical statism. This is why, when exposed to the philosophy
of Ayn Rand and other libertarian philosophers, they have nothing but childish
insults and idiocy with which to respond. Ayn Rand has faced so much negative criticism
by social commentators like Paul Krugman, William Buckley, Gore Vidal, and Cracked.com
for this precise reason. They proclaim Rand to be evil and villainous but never
elaborate on why they feel this way. There are no shortage of weaklings who
will call Rand a stupid Russian bitch, but are incapable of grasping, let
alone, refuting her philosophy.
Ayn Rand was one of the greatest thinkers of our era, and common to great thinkers, she was appreciated by some and despised by many.
