A Liberal-Libertarian View of Selfishness, Ayn Rand's Character Flaw

Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand, a figure now vilified and ridiculed by the left, and religious conservatives of nearly all creeds, nonetheless had some interesting ideas here and there. In my opinion, her naïve faith in industrial capitalism, her contempt for the counterculture and environmentalism, and her obsessive championing of individualism manifested in material achievements are entirely forgivable in the context of her brilliance as an abstract philosopher. One of her more notorious works was The Virtue of Selfishness.

Contained within this view of selfishness was the idea that loyalty to one's own heart and moral code was in fact individualistic and selfish, and that evil came from the acquiescence of "selfless" individuals to externally defined duties. One example she used was that of Adolph Eichmann, and his placing of "duty" at the top of his own motivational priorities. Similarly, and perversely, it is in fact the conventional view of "social responsibility," and its concomitant "pro-social behaviors" in the masses, that allow the sociopathic individualism of the powerful to continue with its depredations and killings.

On an emotional level, it is the connection with one's own heart, in defiance of the duties that have been defined by "society" that begins the grieving process, thereby allowing for at least the possibility of "acceptance" that the horrors are real, and the "getting on with life," i.e. the struggle to end the destruction, and begin the healing of the planet. It could be viewed metaphorically as "recovery," the ending of the potentially fatal addiction to approval, authority, social acceptance, and false security. All the values claimed by the Thanatocentric [death centered] Culture as its own, family, freedom, progress towards a continuously improving quality of life, religion and spirituality, goods and services freely exchanged between consenting individuals without fraud or coercion can be reclaimed by biocentric [life centered] culture, if only the benefits to all, as individuals, as tribes and nations, as a species, and as a planet can be clearly shown. I realize here that I have set forth a task of outrageous difficulty without any clear idea of even where to start, but defining what is to be done is a prerequisite to defining the how, when, and where of the project itself. The most basic choice, to live, is no longer one of me (or us) against "that," or "them." We will live together or die together with the rest of what lives. And if we are gone, in all likelihood the earth will finds its own life without us. It is a question of knowing who you are, and where you stand. To be "selfless," in the literal sense, as opposed to the usage that seems interchangeable with "compassionate," and "giving," is to simply be without a self. The person with a weak or nonexistent ego-structure is the ideal subject for any authoritarian structure. This person has no objections to living almost entirely as an object and automaton, existing for the sole purpose of carrying out the orders of those who wish to control him or her.

Somewhere along the line, the concept of social responsibility was tied to the command to do what one is loath to do. This is rooted in an assumption of original sin and the fundamentally evil nature of the self, and the assumption of divinity in the external "other," the "Higher Power,' be it Church, State or Corporation. The frightened, inadequate, addicted self remains controlled, and is only "individualistic" in the most superficial sense. Driven by a sense of deprivation and the constant fear of punishment, or homelessness and starvation, this individual will bury their own higher self, and accept the rationale that it is their "duty" to accept and support the sociopathic agenda of their masters. The repression and/or commodification of the libido are essential to this process (See Wilhelm Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism for a comprehensive explanation of this theory). The libido is "nature," as is freedom to experience the "unspoiled" natural world, which for many is now a privilege that must be purchased rather than a terrestrial birthright.

I am aware at this time that I may simply be offering myself up for labeling as a "prophet of doom and gloom," and will conclude that beyond denial, rage, depression, and acceptance, is the possibility of a new life. The malignancy of totalitarianism, rooted in patriarchy and war, destroys. It destroys nature, and it destroys human nature, killing many, and dehumanizing even greater numbers of humans, even as it offers anthropocentric [human-centered] justifications. The dominant (dominance) culture is neither anthropocentric nor biocentric. The term Thanatocentric is supported by the testimony of the dead, lost tribes and animal species, tracts of earth scoured of all life, and of course, the body counts that "leaders of men" masterfully rack up as testimony to their greatness. We can look (for instance) to the Crusades, the Witch-Hunts and Inquisitions, all the World Wars and the coming Fourth World War (I'm counting the "Cold War" and the global elite's global war of counterrevolutionary terror as the third), The Holocaust, Vietnam, Pol Pot's "Democratic Kampuchea," Reagan's "Contras" and the latest absurdity, the war in Iraq. And once this has been acknowledged, one can move on. We can affirm the worth of the individual, by affirming the place of each living thing in nature. People who have learned to be compassionate towards themselves and those near them are more likely in my opinion to see the inherent value and rights of all living things (with perhaps the possible exception of things like the HIV and Ebola viruses). The biological impulses of libido, the cry for freedom, the loathing of "other-directed" movements in the slave-labor-prisons of "the workplace," may be affirmed as being healthy, and "selfish" in the sense that Ms Rand meant it.

References:

The Virtue of Selfishness
Ayn Rand, 1964
Signet Books
NY NY

The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Wilhelm Reich, 1970
Simon and Schuster
NY NY