I read Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead twenty-four years ago in 2000. It was recommended to me by someone at a business conference. We were asked to bring something to the conference that appealed and spoke to us, and which had a positive impact on our lives. I brought James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh as a representation of a piece of literature that influenced me quite a bit at the time. Someone at my table recommended Ayn Rand to me, specifically The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
That week I went out and bought The Fountainhead and I devoured it. It really spoke to my soul. One of the main characters (the villain), Ellsworth Toohey, speaks to the steps involved in destroying everything of value, and therefore classic civilized society. His methodology (paraphrased)?:
- Praise and worship the ugly, the stupid, the degradation, the irrational, the idiocy – – make them all seem to be the apex of intellectual pursuit – – make them ‘fashionable.’
- Tear down the aesthetically beautiful, destroy objective reality, ridicule the logical, laugh at classic art, make mundaneness and stupidity culturally and intellectually desirable.
Yet, Here We are in 2024 . . .
I’ve lived to witness, in the last 20 years (particularly the last 5), the inculcation of our youth (and some older adults) into the very same level of idiocy and insanity that Rand so eloquently describes (with today’s own bizarre twists).
- Ugliness is enshrined (even far beyond the last 20 years with regards to ‘Modern‘ art and pop music).
- Objective reality is unknown to the academic intellectual indoctrinates.
- Feelings are reality. “Reality” doesn’t really exist! “Truth” doesn’t exist. There are hundreds of variations of “truth.”
- Redefine the vocabulary and create new words with the ultimate goal of destroying reality and defining it however you wish.
- Classic beauty and art are to be denigrated and shunned; They are white oppression.
- Utter illogic is purveyed as the epitome of intellectualism.
- The terms “Women” and “Men” are no longer acceptable. Instead use: CIS, Trans, Gay, Non-Binary, birthing person, menstruating person, person with a uterus, and any number of 100+ genders, etc.).
- Success is racist; Math is racist; Lawful living is racist. Two-parent households are racist. Fatherhood is racist. Regular work is racist. Positive values are racist. Being white is racist. Whites are automatically the “Oppressor.” Non-whites are the “Victims.”
- Questioning insanity and illogical ideology is unacceptable and subject to calls of White Supremacy, Bigotry and Racism (aka, ‘cancellation’).
I find it hard to believe that human beings succumb to such idiocy and reality-denial! I already had a relatively low opinion of the mob’s ability to critically think, but the last few years have convinced me that I totally underestimated their utter stupidity and gullibility.
Wow. We are in for a hard time.
“Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
And, weak men create hard times.”
– – G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain
Stay above the din of the crowd. Don’t follow the mob. Hold to your standards. Ignore the inaneness. Relish beauty, wonder, freedom, independence, proper thinking, independent thinking, positive values, passion.
Carpe diem my friends!
Featured image by Jackie_Chance from Pixabay via Pixabay License
