Koan, All my eduction and life experiences tell me Ayn Rand was nothing but a sociopathic charlatan and basically wrong about everything. That's funny, because a simple Google search counters one of your core (mis)interpretations of Ayn Rand:
aynrandlexicon.com
Do not confuse altruism with kindness, good will or respect for the rights of others. These are not primaries, but consequences, which, in fact, altruism makes impossible. The irreducible primary of altruism, the basic absolute, is self-sacrifice—which means; self-immolation, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-destruction—which means: the self as a standard of evil, the selfless as a standard of the good.
Do not hide behind such superficialities as whether you should or should not give a dime to a beggar. That is not the issue. The issue is whether you do or do not have the right to exist without giving him that dime. The issue is whether you must keep buying your life, dime by dime, from any beggar who might choose to approach you. The issue is whether the need of others is the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence. The issue is whether man is to be regarded as a sacrificial animal. Any man of self-esteem will answer: “No.” Altruism says: “Yes.” She makes a very good point, by the way. It's hard to actually be compassionate when you are FORCED to be "compassionate." There is no way simple kindness and compassion can flourish when altruism reigns supreme.
Tenchusatsu |
