Lines from The Fountain Head , written by my favourite philosopher, Ayn Rand spoken by Gary Cooper in the film of the same title:
........Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire, he was probably burnt at the stake, he taught his brother to light, but he left them a gift they have not conceived and he lift up darkness of the earth.
Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision, the great creators, the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors stood alone against men of their time; every new thought was opposed, every new invention was denounced, but the man with un-borrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered, and they paid but they won. No creator was prompted by a desire to please his brothers. His brothers hated the gift he offered. His truth was his only motive; his work was his only goal. His work not those who use it, his creation not the benefits others derived from it, the creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all man. He went ahead whether others agreed with him or not. With his integrity as his only banner, he served nothing and no one. He lived for himself and only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things that are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement.
Man cannot survive except through his mind, he comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. But the mind is the attribute of the individual, there is no such thing as a collective brain, the man who thinks must think and act on his own. The reasoning, the mind cannot work under any form of compulsion, it cannot be subordinated to the needs, opinion or wishes of others. It is not an object of sacrifice. The creator stands on his own judgement, the parasite follows the opinion of others. The creator thinks; the parasite follows. The creator produces; the parasite loots. The creator’s concern is conquest of nature; the parasite concern is conquest of man. The creator requires independence, he neither serves nor rules. He deals with man by free exchange and voluntary choice. The parasite seeks power, he wants to bind all man together in common action and common slavery. He claims that man is only a tool for the use of others that he must think as they think, act as they act and live in selfless joyless servitude to any need but his own.
Look at history. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force man into a herd of brainless soulless robots without will, hope and dignity. It is an ancient conflict, it has another name; the individual against the collective. Our country, the noblest country in the history of man was based on a principle of individualism. The principle of man’s inedible right. It was a country where a man was free to seek his own happiness, to gain and produce not to give up and renounce; to prosper not to starve; to achieve not to plunder; to hold as his highest possession, a sense of personal value, and as his highest virtue, his self respect. Look at the result that is what the collectivists are now asking you to destroy as much as the earth has been destroyed.
I am an architect. I know what is to come by the principle as it is built. We are approaching a world which I cannot permit myself to live. My ideas are my property. They were taken from me by force, by breach of contract. No appeal was left to me. It was believed that my work belong to others to do with as they please. They had claim upon me without my consent. That is my duty to serve them without choice or reward. Now you know why I dynamited Cortland. I designed Cortland. I made it possible. I destroyed it. I agree to design it for the purpose of seeing it built as I wish. That was the price I set for my work. I was not paid. My building was disfigured at the whim of others who took all benefits of my work and gave me nothing in return. I came here to say that I do not recognise anyone’s rights to want one minute of my life, nor to any part of my energy, nor to any achievement of mine, no matter who makes the claim. It has to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self sacrificing. I came here to be heard, in the name of every man of independence still left in the world. I wanted to state my terms. I don’t care to work or live on any others. My terms are a man’s right to exist for his own sake.....
Posts
