>>Two misconceptions: ONE: That the philosophy of Ayn Rand condemns compassion, and TWO: that compassion can be forced.<<
No disrespect intended, but here is how I see it. Feel free to correct me.
The thesis of Rands mistakes, IMO, is that she does not recognize the rights of society within a democracy. She never really got it. Those rights of society, in a democracy, take precedent over all other rights, individually or in groups.
To take that a step further, pure capitalism, as outlined by Ayn Rand, actually UNDERMINES democracy. There is a concept that has been completely lost on the "pure, unregulated capitalist" crowd.
I have never seen any compassion in her writings? Maybe I missed it. But, once again compassion can be forced by society, indeed must be forced.
The proletariat and peasants of days past, lived just horrible lives, ruled too often by cruel kings and feudal lords and tribal chiefs, or sociopathic corporatists.
And then we enacted this great democracy we have today, and now have the most civilized nation we have ever had. We, as a society, no longer allow slavery, segregation or even civil rights abuses.
And until the workers had unions, management treated them terribly. Ayn Rand would say, they can just quit and the free market will make everything OK. But of course that is just not how life works.
Last, take prisons. All prisons should be run by society to ensure that prisoners are treated humanely. Ayn Rand, I am sure would have no problem with private prisons. |
