Racism is an evil and primitive form of collectivism. Today, racism is regarded as a crime if practiced by a majority- but as an inalienable right if practiced by a minority. The notion that ones culture is superior to all others solely because it represents the traditions of ones ancestors, is regarded as chauvinism if claimed by a majority- but as ethnic pride if claimed by a minority. Resistance to change and progress is regarded as reactionary if demonstrated by a majority—but retrogression to a Balkan village, to an Indian tepee or to the jungle is hailed if demonstrated by a minority. Tolerance and understanding are regarded as unilateral virtues. In relation to any given minority, we are told, it is the duty of all others, i.e., of the majority, to tolerate and understand the minoritys values and customs- while the minority proclaims that its soul is beyond the outsiders comprehension, that no common ties or bridges exist, that it does not propose to grasp one syllable of the majoritys values, customs or culture, and will continue hurling racist epithets (or worse) at the majoritys faces. Nobody can pretend any longer that the goal of such policies is the elimination of racism—particularly when one observes that the real victims are the better members of these privileged minorities. The self-respecting small home owners and shop owners are the unprotected and undefended victims of every race riot. The minoritys members are expected by their egalitarian leaders to remain a passive herd crying for help (which is a precondition of the power to control a pressure group). Those who ignore the threats and struggle to rise through individual effort and achievement are denounced as traitors. Traitors—to what? To a physiological (racial) collective—to the incompetence or unwillingness or lethargy or malingering of others. If the exceptional men are black, they are attacked as Uncle Toms. But the status of privileged minority is not confined to the blacks, it extends to all racial minorities—on one condition—and some of the most offensive herds are white. That condition- the deeper issue involved, of greater importance to the egalitarians than mere numerical weakness- is the primitive nature of a given minoritys traditions, i.e., its cultural weakness. It is primitive cultures that we are asked to study, to appreciate and to respect—any sort of culture except our own. A piece of pottery copied from generation to generation is held up to us as an achievement—a plastic cup is not. A bearskin is an achievement—synthetic fiber is not. An oxcart is an achievement—an airplane is not. A potion of herbs and snake oil is an achievement—open-heart surgery is not. Stonehenge is an achievement—the Empire State Building is not. Black magic is an achievement—Aristotles Organon is not. And if there is a more repulsive spectacle than a television broadcast presenting, as news, any two-bit group of pretentious, self-conscious adolescents, out of old vaudeville, performing some Slavonic folk dance on a street corner, in the shadow of New Yorks skyscrapers—I have not discovered it yet. Why is Western civilization admonished to admire primitive cultures? Because they are not admirable. Why is a primitive man exhorted to ignore Western achievements? Because they are. Why is the self-expression of a retarded adolescent to be nurtured and acclaimed? Because he has nothing to express. Why is the self-expression of a genius to be impeded and ignored? Because he has. It is to the Mohammedans, the Buddhists, and the cannibals—to the under-developed, the undeveloped, and the not-to-be-developed cultures—that the Capitalist United States of America is asked to apologize for her skyscrapers, her automobiles, her plumbing, and her smiling, confident, untortured, un-skinned-alive, un-eaten young men!... It is not for her flaws that the United States of America is hated, but for her virtues—not for her weaknesses, but for her achievements—not for her failures, but for her success—her magnificent, shining, life-giving success. If there were such a thing as a passion for equality (not equality de jure, but de facto), it would be obvious to its exponents that there are only two ways to achieve it: either by raising all men to the mountaintop —or by razing the mountains. The first method is impossible because it is the faculty of volition that determines a mans stature and actions; but the nearest approach to it was demonstrated by the United States and capitalism, which protected the freedom, the rewards and the incentives for every individuals achievement, each to the extent of his ability and ambition, thus raising the intellectual, moral and economic state of the whole society. The second method is impossible because, if mankind were leveled down to the common denominator of its least competent members, it would not be able to survive (and its best would not choose to survive on such terms). Yet it is the second method that the altruist-egalitarians are pursuing. The greater the evidence of their policys consequences, i.e., the greater the spread of misery, of injustice, of vicious inequality thoughout the world, the more frantic their pursuit—which is one demonstration of the fact that there is no such thing as a benevolent passion for equality and that the claim to it is only a rationalization to cover a passionate hatred of the good for being the good. Ayn Rand youtu.be/345zdA24QAo
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:16:00 +0000
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