It’s called Objectivism (otherwise Libertarianism) and it was invented by Ayn Rand. It tells us that selfishness is good, altruism evil, empathy irrational and compassion destructive. It tells us that the poor deserve to die and the rich deserve to prosper unimpeded. Out of a job? Tough!
Rand was a Russian immigrant to the U.S who had drawn the worst lessons from Stalinism. A humungous hypocrite, she signed on for Social Security and Medicare when she was old (having presumably contributed nothing), but nevertheless believed that, apart from the police, the courts and the military there should be no government at all. Like many Americans she didn’t know that Social Security and Medicare are, yes, government departments. Meanwhile, millionaires are apparently struggling manfully against a multitude of undeserving, useless spongers. The only way forward was and is unregulated greed .
Rand was a psychopath who wrote “Atlas Shrugged”, a poorly-written book that has been read by a startling one third of the American population – that is 100 million people! Billionaires love her, of course, because she plays to their strong sense of victimhood, criticized as they are by the undeserving poor.
On top of that she has huge political support from people persuaded to vote against their own economic and personal interests and who truly think that in maximizing profits the big corporations are protecting consumers(!). This can only get worse as American education (in the true sense of the word) disappears in wide swathes of the country and propaganda paid for by the super-rich (Murdoch) takes the place of sober information.
The disaster that has been the worst recession in living memory was in part caused by Rand’s greatest and best-known adherent – the incompetent Alan Greenspan, who, instead of apologizing for implementing Randian economics and near ruining the country, is still around with his half trained economists, trying to cause yet more mayhem.
Epicurus asks us to stay calm and carry on . The British did so in the face of Hitler, and good Epicureans should do likewise, but be aware of the threats abroad in the world, the ignorance and misinformation. They should avoid cults, religions, tribal yes-men, preachers and sellers of fool’s gold, and continue to educate themselves and think for themselves. Not something Ayn Rand had any time for.
(Inspired by George Monbiot in The Guardian Weekly” , March 16th)
I think it’s time for a loaf of bread , a glass of wine and a good, cheerful book!
This Randian stuff doesn’t seem to be popular in the U.K and Europe as far as I can see. But it attracts a lot of passionate adherents in the U.S. America can be such a generous and tolerant place, but these people are scary.
Ayn Rand rejected the concept of a “public interest,” perhaps the linchpin tenet of her “Objectivist” philosophy. She energetically opposed Medicare from the moment the policy was conceived.
When objective reality struck in her later years, her husband became seriously ill and after decades of heavy smoking, she developed lung cancer. Ayn Rand then became less “objective,” was in financial straits, and enrolled in Medicare. Taxpayers helped her through. What are we to conclulde?
Nemesis ends in destruction.
(a misquote because I have forgotten the Greek word for destruction. Can someone remind me?)
Cataclysm, from the well-known Greek word katalusmos, or deluge