I have realized after finishing Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead, that I am an objectivist. I am an objectivist simply because I like to be. Yes there is an objective reason behind this, but I don’t have to explain this to anybody since others opinions don’t matter to me. Yet, due to my own objective decision, I would let some of those reasons be known to you now.
It gives me absolute freedom. I can do anything I want and since anything I do is for my own interests and selfishness is a virtue, I am right in doing whatever I like. I don’t have to care for the society and in particular for those I don’t like (because they are always subjective). I have no responsibilities, barring what I choose to be comfortable for myself. It also gives me absolute freedom in my personal relations. I can make or break any relation without having to offer any explanations (just like Dominique does to Keating and later Wynand in the novel). I am correct in disobeying the government in many things, since it has no right to curtail my individual freedom. In particular I am correct in not paying my taxes, since taxation is only a means to benefit the poor by stealing from the rich. Above all I like this philosophy now because with some luck I am powerful in the society now and I don’t want to share the power with anyone, nor help anyone else to reach that place.
I do not care for the environment because I would make less profit if I care for it. And in any case my wealth insulates me from the environment with the use of technology and it is only the poor people who are going to suffer, with whom I don’t sympathize for any reason. In fact if somebody were to ask me about environmental concerns, inspired by some ideas in this book, I would answer them in the following way.
Are effects like global warming, not a result of our unrestrained exploitation of our environment?
Yes.
Then should this continue?
Yes.
Then what would happen to our environment? All of the land mass may be submerged soon. Where would we live?
Human genius has long found an answer for this. Using super-strong alloys, we construct entire cities suspended in air. We can grow vegetables and fruits using greenhouses, we can have even parks, resorts…
Who would provide the money for this?
Our great corporations will do.
Then, wouldn’t this be prohibitively expensive for our poor? Don’t they need to live?
Yes it will be too expensive for the poor. And yes they don’t need to live. The poor have no right to live. The poor remain poor because they are incompetent, lazy and dumb-headed[see speech by Dominque at pp.130]. In this world of survival of the fittest, they don’t deserve to live.
Of course I understand that there some moral issues which can’t be dealt with entirely rationally, and as long as they are not important to me, I’ll allow organizations like ARI to decide for me.
If these reasons don’t seem to be objective it is because I have chosen to disclose only some of my reasons and obviously my reasons can never be subjective because I am an objectivist which implies that I am a perfect man.
PS: If you haven’t got what I am saying, then look out for my review on “The Fountainhead” which I’ll post shortly. If you are getting it, then that is better – you would be able to enjoy my review much more!
