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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1553903)	8/22/2025 10:03:37 AM
From: Maple MAGA	1 Recommendation Recommended By longz Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578183

That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. Michelle Obama It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master. Ayn Rand

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1553903)	8/22/2025 10:04:54 AM
From: Maple MAGA	2 Recommendations Recommended By longz miraje Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578183

Ayn Rand’s claim that “selfishness is a virtue” is one of the most misunderstood lines in modern philosophy. Most people hear the word selfishness and think of greed, cruelty, trampling others, or refusing to share. But that’s not what Rand meant at all. Let me unpack it: 1. Redefining "Selfishness" Rand deliberately used the word “selfishness” to shock people out of their moral assumptions. By selfishness, she meant: Rational self-interest — living for your own sake, not as a sacrificial animal for others. Pursuing values (work, love, knowledge, achievement, happiness) that make life worth living. Refusing to live your life as a tool for someone else’s use or demand. 2. Rejecting the Morality of Self-Sacrifice In her view, most traditional ethics (Christian altruism, socialist collectivism, etc.) taught that virtue means sacrificing your own interests for others. She saw this as destructive, because: If everyone exists to serve everyone else, no one’s life has intrinsic worth. “Altruism” becomes a moral blank check for tyranny, since politicians, priests, or mobs can demand your sacrifice in the name of “the greater good.” Rand’s reversal was to say: No — your life is your highest value. To live for yourself, honestly and productively, is moral. 3. Selfishness ? Exploitation She was adamant that rational self-interest does not mean lying, stealing, mooching, or exploiting others. Why? Because those destroy the conditions of your own life (trust, freedom, prosperity). A robber or dictator isn’t “selfish” in her sense — they’re parasitic. The truly selfish person produces, creates, and trades value for value, respecting others’ rights because it’s in their interest to live in a society of free individuals. 4. What She Really Meant So when she said “selfishness is a virtue,” she was really saying: Your life is yours to live. Happiness is your moral purpose. Reason and productive achievement are your tools. And respecting others’ rights is part of being truly selfish, because a society of force and sacrifice is against your interests. Her most famous book on this is The Virtue of Selfishness (1964), which is really about the morality of rational self-interest. Bottom line: Rand meant that living your own life, pursuing your happiness, and refusing to be sacrificed for others (or sacrifice others to yourself) is moral. She turned the moral table upside down: instead of “selfish = bad, sacrifice = good,” she argued the reverse — sacrifice destroys life, rational self-interest sustains it.