<\/p>\n
This will be a very personal post. I have just come <\/p>\n Rand’s admiration for a sociopathic murderer is an<\/span> Now the ‘conservative’ and right-wing dislike of protecting children<\/a>, opposition to punishing the powerful when they commit gang This is all pretty personal for me.<\/b><\/p>\n I was a As I grew older (For me, the final step was when I encountered the Wiccan Goddess. When love and wisdom like that exists, who needs power. Her love validated individual worth far more than any philosophy ever could, while teaching that both that love and the value it treasured existed everywhere.)<\/p>\n
\nacross a very disturbing article: a description of conservative and libertarian
\nheroine Ayn Rand’s early and passionate admiration of a serial killer <\/a>because
\nof his lack of empathy towards other people. In her words, “Other people do not exist
\nfor him, and he does not see why they should.” <\/span>She found it admirable that William Edward Hickman<\/a> had
\n“no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a
\nconsciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He
\ncan never realize and feel ‘other people.'” She explained<\/a> that “The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole<\/i> society against one<\/i> man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the ‘virtuous’ indignation and mass-hatred of the ‘majority.’… It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal…”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\neye-opener as to the moral sensibility that appeals to all too many
\n‘conservative’ and ‘libertarian’ Americans. <\/span>She was one very disturbed and deeply wounded person,
\nas her biographies show<\/a>. <\/span>The widespread admiration for her
\nwork in right wing circles seems to be at a height today even as the
\nlibertarian concern for others’ freedom seems to be at a nadir. <\/span>This failure to protect freedom while simultaneously opposing any aid to the less
\nfortunate (an opposition justified in the name of freedom) has been a paradox that has perplexed me –
\nuntil now.<\/p>\n
\nrape<\/a>,their own love of torture<\/a> using methods perfected by totalitarian regimes, their lack of concern about hundreds of thousands killed in Haiti <\/a>l<\/a>
\nand their belief that unemployment insurance simply promotes sloth<\/a> even when there are 500
\npeople <\/a>pursuing every available job, makes sense. <\/span>We are
\nnot dealing with a rationally held political and moral philosophy. <\/span>We are dealing with diseased minds trying to justify their nastiness. <\/span>Increasingly what calls itself
\n“conservatism” is a haven where injured and fragmented souls can come together,
\npretend they are normal, and look down on others. <\/span>Their “philosophy of freedom” is in fact the
\n“philosophy of sociopathy” tarted up in a loosely attached veneer of philosophical rigor.<\/p>\n
\nlibertarian myself for many years, and had
\nread Rand’s novels while in high school and college. <\/span>Dealing with my own adolescent batch of insecurities,
\nguilts, and confusions, I was attracted by the simple clarity of Rand’s moral
\nuniverse, even though I was never able to fully embrace her hard core egoism or
\nher atheism. <\/span>But as a bracing
\ntonic for a young guy with self-esteem problems in a confusing world, her
\nnovels could be inspiring. The Fountainhead<\/i><\/span> and We the Living<\/i> were my personal favorites.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nand a little bit wiser I found I had ever less in common with Rand’s views as
\nmy libertarianism came to be based on a dislike of coercing anyone, rather than
\nsimply my being coerced. <\/span>But her
\nfollowers remained prominent denizens in the free market individualist circles
\nin which I hung around. <\/span>While we
\nmight disagree on philosophical issues, I felt they were at least reliable
\nallies for freedom against “the State.” Looking back on my evolution away from
\nlibertarian individualism to whatever it is that I am today, I see that what
\nmoved me away was connected to whatever capacity for empathy for others that I
\nharbored. <\/span><\/p>\n