10 Things I Learned from You Know Who

Bad initial book reviews, being ignored by the media, and having a bad personality would seem likely to kill a writing career.  Yet, Ayn Rand’s fiction books have sold more in each successive decade, and now sell more than ever.  How does a bad writer that the media doesn’t like do that?  It seems that some powerful ideas somehow snuck into her books, and her widely-criticized literary style somehow imbedded them in some formative brains.

I admit to being among those who experienced several Ayn Rand ideas as “life-changing”.   Some of them are summarized below.  Some are original to her, but others are old ideas to which she gave new life.  In either case, I think it is fair to say that all these ideas would be less popular today if Ayn Rand had never visited earth.

Freedom is Good

People are basically good, and the best policy is leaving them free to live their own lives as they see fit.  This is a good, old, all-American idea that Rand made “great again” leading to the rebirth of a belief system we now call “Libertarian”

Freedom Makes Sense, Even to Intellectuals

In the early 20^th century, Marx, Freud, Darwin, Communism and Fascism became really popular with intellectuals.  Freedom and liberty were championed mainly by business people who were seen as inferior intellects.  Rand and the Chicago School of Economics made freedom popular with intellectuals, which led to new institutions like the Cato Society, the Federalist Society, the Libertarian Party, and Libertarianism in general.        

Reason is the Best Guide for Life

While she was only re-stating Aristotle, and others, she made “reason” much more popular than it had been for a long while, spawning many publications, e.g., Reason Magazine.  Her books are still making reason more popular than it was before.

What People Believe Determines What Will Actually Happen

In 1957, human agency and free will were extremely under-appreciated idea in academia where deterministic Freudian, Marxian, and Darwinian ideas held court.  Rand insisted that the ideas that people believe determine (more than other factors) what people will actually do, and this is also true for society as a whole. Rand got a lot of intellectuals (me included) believing that the most important thing in life is to find good ideas and act on them.

Great Innovators Are the Fountainhead of Progress

Before Rand, it was popular to believe great individuals could catch crooks, win wars, and cure disease, but the steady increase in economic growth transforming human life from starvation to flourishing “just happened” with no real cause.  Rand painted a completely new picture of heroic business innovators finding new paths and leading the world out of poverty while being blamed for society’s ills.  Rand’s picture was compelling at the time and still packs a wallop, because it is mostly true.  Due mostly to Rand, many people now realize that innovation comes mainly from business, and hardly ever from academia or government. 

“The Sanction of The Victim”

The idea that people lose battles, not by being outnumbered or out-resourced, but because they accept the ideas of their own attackers rather than fighting back with their own ideas. In intellectual arguments the sanction of the victim works like the ultra conservative “prevent defense” in football.

In the “prevent defense”, a team that is well ahead concedes small pieces of ground on each play to prevent a large gain on any one play. By continuously giving up small pieces of ground, the momentum of the game changes with the losing team gaining ground, while the winning team keeps backing up. As legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden liked to say, “the ‘prevent defense’ prevents you from winning”.

In intellectual arguments, as in football, the party that maintains momentum throughout the contest is more likely to win. Giving sanction (permission) to your attackers by agreeing with some of their premises dooms you to failure.

Altruism is Over-Rated

In 1957, most people would have said that people who sacrifice themselves for others are better than people who look out for themselves; that Mother Teresa was a better person than Charles Lindbergh, or Winston Churchill.  Rand successfully argued (again with Aristotle) that the most important thing is living a good life.  Sacrificing to others sounds good to preachers, but, in practice, Rand showed it can mean it can mean selling out your family, your community, and your country. When Rand maintained altruism was evil, it created a semantic argument with no winner, but she blew a big hole in the side of altruism, which remains to this day.  

The Most Evil Person is a Person without a Purpose

This ideas is great, and is still under-appreciated.  When I got involved in organizational management, I began to see clearly how frequently a person’s not having a purpose leads to evil doings in an organization.  The proverb: “Busy hands are happy hands; Idle Hands are the Devil’s Helper” is right on, and Rand brought this one back to life for me.

Being a Workaholic is Cool

When I was young, I thought that workaholics had no fun, but she taught me that being intense about and engaged in what you are doing is the ultimate “high”.

America is a Great Country

Again, this is not a new idea.  Rand was not the first to say American is a great country.  She was among the first to say “American is a great country”, and, then explain why in great detail.

Categories: Commentary, Culture, Ethics, Philosophy, Truth/Science