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Ayn Rand's Admiration of Murderer-Dismemberer William Edward Hickman
In her notebooks Ayn Rand worshiped a notorious serial murderer-dismemberer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of 12-year-old girl named Marion Parker in 1927 shocked the nation. Rand used this killer as an early model for the type of "ideal man" she promoted in her more famous books.
Ayn Rand, Hugely Popular Author and Inspiration to Right-Wing Leaders, Was a Big Admirer of Serial Killer
By Mark Ames, AlterNet
Posted on February 26, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145819/
There's something deeply unsettling about living in a country where millions of people froth at the mouth at the idea of giving health care to the tens of millions of Americans who don't have it, or who take pleasure at the thought of privatizing and slashing bedrock social programs like Social Security or Medicare. It might not be so hard to stomach if other Western countries also had a large, vocal chunk of the population that thought like this, but the U.S. is seemingly the only place where right-wing elites can openly share their distaste for the working poor. Where do they find their philosophical justification for this kind of attitude?
It turns out, you can trace much of this thinking back to Ayn Rand, a popular cult-philosopher who exerts a huge influence over much of the right-wing and libertarian crowd, but whose influence is only starting to spread out of the U.S.
One reason most countries don't find the time to embrace Ayn Rand's thinking is that she is a textbook sociopath. In her notebooks Ayn Rand worshiped a notorious serial murderer-dismemberer, and used this killer as an early model for the type of "ideal man" she promoted in her more famous books. These ideas were later picked up on and put into play by major right-wing figures of the past half decade, including the key architects of America's most recent economic catastrophe -- former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan and SEC Commissioner Chris Cox -- along with other notable right-wing Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
The loudest of all the Republicans, right-wing attack-dog pundits and the Teabagger mobs fighting to kill health care reform and eviscerate "entitlement programs" increasingly hold up Ayn Rand as their guru. Sales of her books have soared in the past couple of years; one poll ranked Atlas Shrugged as the second most influential book of the 20th century, after the Bible.
The best way to get to the bottom of Ayn Rand's beliefs is to take a look at how she developed the superhero of her novel, Atlas Shrugged, John Galt. Back in the late 1920s, as Ayn Rand was working out her philosophy, she became enthralled by a real-life American serial killer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of 12-year-old girl named Marion Parker in 1927 shocked the nation. Rand filled her early notebooks with worshipful praise of Hickman. According to biographer Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of the Market, Rand was so smitten with Hickman that she modeled her first literary creation -- Danny Renahan, the protagonist of her unfinished first novel, The Little Street -- on him.
What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"
This echoes almost word for word Rand's later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others." (The Fountainhead is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' favorite book -- he even requires his clerks to read it.)
I'll get to where Rand picked up her silly superman blather later -- but first, let's meet William Hickman, the "genuinely beautiful soul" and inspiration to Ayn Rand. What you will read below -- the real story, details included, of what made Hickman a "superman" in Ayn Rand's eyes -- is extremely gory and upsetting, even if you're well acquainted with true crime stories -- so prepare yourself. But it's necessary to read this to understand Rand, and to repeat this over and over until all of America understands what made her tick, because Rand's influence over the very people leading the fight to kill social programs, and her ideological influence on so many powerful bankers, regulators and businessmen who brought the financial markets crashing down, means her ideas are affecting all of our lives in the worst way imaginable.
Rand fell for William Edward Hickman in the late 1920s, as the shocking story of Hickman's crime started to grip the nation. He was the OJ Simpson of his day; his crime, trial and case were nonstop headline grabbers for months.
Hickman, who was only 19 when he was arrested for murder, was the son of a paranoid-schizophrenic mother and grandmother. His schoolmates said that as a kid Hickman liked to strangle cats and snap the necks of chickens for fun -- most of the kids thought he was a budding manic, though the adults gave him good marks for behavior, a typical sign of sociopathic cunning. He enrolled in college but quickly dropped out, and turned to violent crime largely driven by the thrill and arrogance typical of sociopaths: in a brief and wild crime spree that grew increasingly violent, Hickman knocked over dozens of gas stations and drug stores across the Midwest and west to California. Along the way it's believed he strangled a girl in Milwaukee and killed his crime partner's grandfather in Pasadena, tossing his body over a bridge after taking his money. Hickman's partner later told police that Hickman told him how much he'd like to kill and dismember a victim someday -- and that day did come for Hickman.
One afternoon, Hickman drove up to Mount Vernon Junior High school in Los Angeles, telling administrators he'd come to pick up "the Parker girl" -- her father, Perry Parker, was a prominent banker. Hickman didn't know the girl's first name, so when he was asked which of the two Parker twins, he answered, "the younger daughter." Then he corrected himself: "The smaller one."
No one suspected his motives. The school administrator fetched young Marion, and brought her out to Hickman. Marion obediently followed Hickman to his car as she was told, where he promptly kidnapped her. He wrote a ransom note to Marion's father, demanding $1,500 for her return, promising the girl would be left unharmed. Marion was terrified into passivity -- she even waited in the car for Hickman when he went to mail his letter to her father. Hickman's extreme narcissism comes through in his ransom letters, as he refers to himself as a "master mind [sic]" and "not a common crook." Hickman signed his letters "The Fox" because he admired his own cunning: "Fox is my name, very sly you know." And then he threatened: "Get this straight. Your daughter's life hangs by a thread."
Hickman and the girl's father exchanged letters over the next few days as they arranged the terms of the ransom, while Marion obediently followed her captor's demands. She never tried to escape the hotel where he kept her; Hickman even took her to a movie, and she never screamed for help. She remained quiet and still as told when Hickman tied her to the chair -- he didn't even bother gagging her because there was no need to, right up to the gruesome end.
Hickman's last ransom note to Marion's father is where this story reaches its disturbing end. Hickman fills the letter with hurt anger over her father's suggestion that Hickman might deceive him, and "ask you for your $1500 for a lifeless mass of flesh I am base and low but won't stoop to that depth." What Hickman didn't say was that as he wrote the letter, Marion had already been chopped up into several lifeless masses of flesh. Why taunt the father? Why feign outrage? This sort of bizarre taunting was all part of the serial killer's thrill, maximizing his sadistic pleasure. But this was nothing compared to the thrill Hickman got from murdering the helpless 12-year-old Marion Parker. Here is an old newspaper description of the murder, taken from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on December 27, 1927:
"It was while I was fixing the blindfold that the urge to murder came upon me," he continued, "and I just couldn't help myself. I got a towel and stepped up behind Marion. Then before she could move, I put it around her neck and twisted it tightly. I held on and she made no outcry except to gurgle. I held on for about two minutes, I guess, and then I let go. When I cut loose the fastenings, she fell to the floor. I knew she was dead. Well, after she was dead I carried her body into the bathroom and undressed her, all but the underwear, and cut a hole in her throat with a pocket knife to let the blood out."
Another newspaper account explained what Hickman did next:
Then he took a pocket knife and cut a hole in her throat. Then he cut off each arm to the elbow. Then he cut her legs off at the knees. He put the limbs in a cabinet. He cut up the body in his room at the Bellevue Arms Apartments. Then he removed the clothing and cut the body through at the waist. He put it on a shelf in the dressing room. He placed a towel in the body to drain the blood. He wrapped up the exposed ends of the arms and waist with paper. He combed back her hair, powdered her face and then with a needle fixed her eyelids. He did this because he realized that he would lose the reward if he did not have the body to produce to her father.
Hickman packed her body, limbs and entrails into a car, and drove to the drop-off point to pick up his ransom; along his way he tossed out wrapped-up limbs and innards scattering them around Los Angeles. When he arrived at the meeting point, Hickman pulled Miriam's [sic] head and torso out of a suitcase and propped her up, her torso wrapped tightly, to look like she was alive--he sewed wires into her eyelids to keep them open, so that she'd appear to be awake and alive. When Miriam's father arrived, Hickman pointed a sawed-off shotgun at him, showed Miriam's head with the eyes sewn open (it would have been hard to see for certain that she was dead), and then took the ransom money and sped away. As he sped away, he threw Miriam's head and torso out of the car, and that's when the father ran up and saw his daughter--and screamed.
This is the "amazing picture" Ayn Rand -- guru to the Republican/Tea Party right-wing -- admired when she wrote in her notebook that Hickman represented "the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should."
Other people don't exist for Rand, either. Part of her ideas are nothing more than a ditzy dilettante's bastardized Nietzsche -- but even this was plagiarized from the same pulp newspaper accounts of the time. According to an LA Times article in late December 1927, headlined "Behavioralism Gets The Blame," a pastor and others close to the Hickman case denounced the cheap trendy Nietzschean ideas Hickman and others latched onto as a defense:
"Behavioristic philosophic teachings of eminent philosophers such as Nietzsche and Schopenhauer have built the foundation for William Edward Hickman's original rebellion against society," the article begins.
The fear that some felt at the time was that these philosophers' dangerous, yet nuanced ideas would fall into the hands of lesser minds, who would bastardize Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and poison the rest of us. This aptly describes Ayn Rand, whose philosophy developed out of her admiration for "Supermen" like Hickman. Rand's philosophy can be summed up by the title of one of her best-known books: The Virtue of Selfishness. She argues that all selfishness is a moral good, and all altruism is a moral evil, even "moral cannibalism," to use her words. To her, those who aren't like-minded sociopaths are "parasites," "lice" and "looters."
But with Rand, there's something more pathological at work. She's out to make the world more sociopath-friendly so that people her hero William Hickman can reach their full potential, not held back by the morality of the "weak," whom Rand despised.
Rand and her followers clearly got off on hating and bashing those they perceived as weak. This is exactly the sort of sadism that Rand's hero, Hickman, would have appreciated.
What's really unsettling is that even former Central Bank chief Alan Greenspan, whose relationship with Rand dated back to the 1950s, did some parasite-bashing of his own. In response to a 1958 New York Times book review slamming Atlas Shrugged, Greenspan, defending his mentor, published a letter to the editor that ends: "Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should. Alan Greenspan."
As much as Ayn Rand detested human "parasites," there is one thing she strongly believed in: creating conditions that increase the productivity of her supermen -- the William Hickmans who rule her idealized America: "If [people] place such things as friendship and family ties above their own productive work, yes, then they are immoral. Friendship, family life and human relationships are not primary in a man's life. A man who places others first, above his own creative work, is an emotional parasite."
Republican faithful like GOP Congressman Paul Ryan read Ayn Rand and declare, with pride, "Rand makes the best case for the morality of democratic capitalism." Indeed. Except that Rand also despised democracy, writing that, "Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom."
"Collectivism" is another one of those Randian epithets popular among her followers. Here is another Republican member of Congress, Michelle Bachman, parroting the Ayn Rand ideological line, to explain her reasoning for wanting to kill social programs:
"As much as the collectivist says to each according to his ability to each according to his need, that's not how mankind is wired. They want to make the best possible deal for themselves."
Whenever you hear politicians or Tea Partiers dividing up the world between "producers" and "collectivism," just know that those ideas and words more likely than not are derived from the deranged mind of a serial-killer groupie. When you hear them saying, "Go John Galt," hide your daughters and tell them not to talk to any strangers -- or Tea Party Republicans. And when you see them taking their razor blades to the last remaining programs protecting the middle class from total abject destitution -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and bragging about how they are slashing these programs for "moral" reasons, just remember Ayn's morality and who inspired her.
Too many critics of Ayn Rand -- until recently I was one of them -- would rather dismiss her books and ideas as laughable, childish, and hackneyed. But she can't be dismissed because Rand is the name that keeps bubbling up from the Tea Party crowd and the elite conservative circuit in Washington as the Big Inspiration. The only way to protect ourselves from this thinking is the way you protect yourself from serial killers: smoke the Rand followers out, make them answer for following the crazed ideology of a serial-killer-groupie, and run them the hell out of town and out of our hemisphere.
http://www.alternet.org/story/145819/
By Mark Ames, AlterNet
Posted on February 26, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145819/
There's something deeply unsettling about living in a country where millions of people froth at the mouth at the idea of giving health care to the tens of millions of Americans who don't have it, or who take pleasure at the thought of privatizing and slashing bedrock social programs like Social Security or Medicare. It might not be so hard to stomach if other Western countries also had a large, vocal chunk of the population that thought like this, but the U.S. is seemingly the only place where right-wing elites can openly share their distaste for the working poor. Where do they find their philosophical justification for this kind of attitude?
It turns out, you can trace much of this thinking back to Ayn Rand, a popular cult-philosopher who exerts a huge influence over much of the right-wing and libertarian crowd, but whose influence is only starting to spread out of the U.S.
One reason most countries don't find the time to embrace Ayn Rand's thinking is that she is a textbook sociopath. In her notebooks Ayn Rand worshiped a notorious serial murderer-dismemberer, and used this killer as an early model for the type of "ideal man" she promoted in her more famous books. These ideas were later picked up on and put into play by major right-wing figures of the past half decade, including the key architects of America's most recent economic catastrophe -- former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan and SEC Commissioner Chris Cox -- along with other notable right-wing Republicans such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
The loudest of all the Republicans, right-wing attack-dog pundits and the Teabagger mobs fighting to kill health care reform and eviscerate "entitlement programs" increasingly hold up Ayn Rand as their guru. Sales of her books have soared in the past couple of years; one poll ranked Atlas Shrugged as the second most influential book of the 20th century, after the Bible.
The best way to get to the bottom of Ayn Rand's beliefs is to take a look at how she developed the superhero of her novel, Atlas Shrugged, John Galt. Back in the late 1920s, as Ayn Rand was working out her philosophy, she became enthralled by a real-life American serial killer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of 12-year-old girl named Marion Parker in 1927 shocked the nation. Rand filled her early notebooks with worshipful praise of Hickman. According to biographer Jennifer Burns, author of Goddess of the Market, Rand was so smitten with Hickman that she modeled her first literary creation -- Danny Renahan, the protagonist of her unfinished first novel, The Little Street -- on him.
What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should," she wrote, gushing that Hickman had "no regard whatsoever for all that society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. He has the true, innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel 'other people.'"
This echoes almost word for word Rand's later description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others." (The Fountainhead is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' favorite book -- he even requires his clerks to read it.)
I'll get to where Rand picked up her silly superman blather later -- but first, let's meet William Hickman, the "genuinely beautiful soul" and inspiration to Ayn Rand. What you will read below -- the real story, details included, of what made Hickman a "superman" in Ayn Rand's eyes -- is extremely gory and upsetting, even if you're well acquainted with true crime stories -- so prepare yourself. But it's necessary to read this to understand Rand, and to repeat this over and over until all of America understands what made her tick, because Rand's influence over the very people leading the fight to kill social programs, and her ideological influence on so many powerful bankers, regulators and businessmen who brought the financial markets crashing down, means her ideas are affecting all of our lives in the worst way imaginable.
Rand fell for William Edward Hickman in the late 1920s, as the shocking story of Hickman's crime started to grip the nation. He was the OJ Simpson of his day; his crime, trial and case were nonstop headline grabbers for months.
Hickman, who was only 19 when he was arrested for murder, was the son of a paranoid-schizophrenic mother and grandmother. His schoolmates said that as a kid Hickman liked to strangle cats and snap the necks of chickens for fun -- most of the kids thought he was a budding manic, though the adults gave him good marks for behavior, a typical sign of sociopathic cunning. He enrolled in college but quickly dropped out, and turned to violent crime largely driven by the thrill and arrogance typical of sociopaths: in a brief and wild crime spree that grew increasingly violent, Hickman knocked over dozens of gas stations and drug stores across the Midwest and west to California. Along the way it's believed he strangled a girl in Milwaukee and killed his crime partner's grandfather in Pasadena, tossing his body over a bridge after taking his money. Hickman's partner later told police that Hickman told him how much he'd like to kill and dismember a victim someday -- and that day did come for Hickman.
One afternoon, Hickman drove up to Mount Vernon Junior High school in Los Angeles, telling administrators he'd come to pick up "the Parker girl" -- her father, Perry Parker, was a prominent banker. Hickman didn't know the girl's first name, so when he was asked which of the two Parker twins, he answered, "the younger daughter." Then he corrected himself: "The smaller one."
No one suspected his motives. The school administrator fetched young Marion, and brought her out to Hickman. Marion obediently followed Hickman to his car as she was told, where he promptly kidnapped her. He wrote a ransom note to Marion's father, demanding $1,500 for her return, promising the girl would be left unharmed. Marion was terrified into passivity -- she even waited in the car for Hickman when he went to mail his letter to her father. Hickman's extreme narcissism comes through in his ransom letters, as he refers to himself as a "master mind [sic]" and "not a common crook." Hickman signed his letters "The Fox" because he admired his own cunning: "Fox is my name, very sly you know." And then he threatened: "Get this straight. Your daughter's life hangs by a thread."
Hickman and the girl's father exchanged letters over the next few days as they arranged the terms of the ransom, while Marion obediently followed her captor's demands. She never tried to escape the hotel where he kept her; Hickman even took her to a movie, and she never screamed for help. She remained quiet and still as told when Hickman tied her to the chair -- he didn't even bother gagging her because there was no need to, right up to the gruesome end.
Hickman's last ransom note to Marion's father is where this story reaches its disturbing end. Hickman fills the letter with hurt anger over her father's suggestion that Hickman might deceive him, and "ask you for your $1500 for a lifeless mass of flesh I am base and low but won't stoop to that depth." What Hickman didn't say was that as he wrote the letter, Marion had already been chopped up into several lifeless masses of flesh. Why taunt the father? Why feign outrage? This sort of bizarre taunting was all part of the serial killer's thrill, maximizing his sadistic pleasure. But this was nothing compared to the thrill Hickman got from murdering the helpless 12-year-old Marion Parker. Here is an old newspaper description of the murder, taken from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on December 27, 1927:
"It was while I was fixing the blindfold that the urge to murder came upon me," he continued, "and I just couldn't help myself. I got a towel and stepped up behind Marion. Then before she could move, I put it around her neck and twisted it tightly. I held on and she made no outcry except to gurgle. I held on for about two minutes, I guess, and then I let go. When I cut loose the fastenings, she fell to the floor. I knew she was dead. Well, after she was dead I carried her body into the bathroom and undressed her, all but the underwear, and cut a hole in her throat with a pocket knife to let the blood out."
Another newspaper account explained what Hickman did next:
Then he took a pocket knife and cut a hole in her throat. Then he cut off each arm to the elbow. Then he cut her legs off at the knees. He put the limbs in a cabinet. He cut up the body in his room at the Bellevue Arms Apartments. Then he removed the clothing and cut the body through at the waist. He put it on a shelf in the dressing room. He placed a towel in the body to drain the blood. He wrapped up the exposed ends of the arms and waist with paper. He combed back her hair, powdered her face and then with a needle fixed her eyelids. He did this because he realized that he would lose the reward if he did not have the body to produce to her father.
Hickman packed her body, limbs and entrails into a car, and drove to the drop-off point to pick up his ransom; along his way he tossed out wrapped-up limbs and innards scattering them around Los Angeles. When he arrived at the meeting point, Hickman pulled Miriam's [sic] head and torso out of a suitcase and propped her up, her torso wrapped tightly, to look like she was alive--he sewed wires into her eyelids to keep them open, so that she'd appear to be awake and alive. When Miriam's father arrived, Hickman pointed a sawed-off shotgun at him, showed Miriam's head with the eyes sewn open (it would have been hard to see for certain that she was dead), and then took the ransom money and sped away. As he sped away, he threw Miriam's head and torso out of the car, and that's when the father ran up and saw his daughter--and screamed.
This is the "amazing picture" Ayn Rand -- guru to the Republican/Tea Party right-wing -- admired when she wrote in her notebook that Hickman represented "the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should."
Other people don't exist for Rand, either. Part of her ideas are nothing more than a ditzy dilettante's bastardized Nietzsche -- but even this was plagiarized from the same pulp newspaper accounts of the time. According to an LA Times article in late December 1927, headlined "Behavioralism Gets The Blame," a pastor and others close to the Hickman case denounced the cheap trendy Nietzschean ideas Hickman and others latched onto as a defense:
"Behavioristic philosophic teachings of eminent philosophers such as Nietzsche and Schopenhauer have built the foundation for William Edward Hickman's original rebellion against society," the article begins.
The fear that some felt at the time was that these philosophers' dangerous, yet nuanced ideas would fall into the hands of lesser minds, who would bastardize Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and poison the rest of us. This aptly describes Ayn Rand, whose philosophy developed out of her admiration for "Supermen" like Hickman. Rand's philosophy can be summed up by the title of one of her best-known books: The Virtue of Selfishness. She argues that all selfishness is a moral good, and all altruism is a moral evil, even "moral cannibalism," to use her words. To her, those who aren't like-minded sociopaths are "parasites," "lice" and "looters."
But with Rand, there's something more pathological at work. She's out to make the world more sociopath-friendly so that people her hero William Hickman can reach their full potential, not held back by the morality of the "weak," whom Rand despised.
Rand and her followers clearly got off on hating and bashing those they perceived as weak. This is exactly the sort of sadism that Rand's hero, Hickman, would have appreciated.
What's really unsettling is that even former Central Bank chief Alan Greenspan, whose relationship with Rand dated back to the 1950s, did some parasite-bashing of his own. In response to a 1958 New York Times book review slamming Atlas Shrugged, Greenspan, defending his mentor, published a letter to the editor that ends: "Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should. Alan Greenspan."
As much as Ayn Rand detested human "parasites," there is one thing she strongly believed in: creating conditions that increase the productivity of her supermen -- the William Hickmans who rule her idealized America: "If [people] place such things as friendship and family ties above their own productive work, yes, then they are immoral. Friendship, family life and human relationships are not primary in a man's life. A man who places others first, above his own creative work, is an emotional parasite."
Republican faithful like GOP Congressman Paul Ryan read Ayn Rand and declare, with pride, "Rand makes the best case for the morality of democratic capitalism." Indeed. Except that Rand also despised democracy, writing that, "Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom."
"Collectivism" is another one of those Randian epithets popular among her followers. Here is another Republican member of Congress, Michelle Bachman, parroting the Ayn Rand ideological line, to explain her reasoning for wanting to kill social programs:
"As much as the collectivist says to each according to his ability to each according to his need, that's not how mankind is wired. They want to make the best possible deal for themselves."
Whenever you hear politicians or Tea Partiers dividing up the world between "producers" and "collectivism," just know that those ideas and words more likely than not are derived from the deranged mind of a serial-killer groupie. When you hear them saying, "Go John Galt," hide your daughters and tell them not to talk to any strangers -- or Tea Party Republicans. And when you see them taking their razor blades to the last remaining programs protecting the middle class from total abject destitution -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and bragging about how they are slashing these programs for "moral" reasons, just remember Ayn's morality and who inspired her.
Too many critics of Ayn Rand -- until recently I was one of them -- would rather dismiss her books and ideas as laughable, childish, and hackneyed. But she can't be dismissed because Rand is the name that keeps bubbling up from the Tea Party crowd and the elite conservative circuit in Washington as the Big Inspiration. The only way to protect ourselves from this thinking is the way you protect yourself from serial killers: smoke the Rand followers out, make them answer for following the crazed ideology of a serial-killer-groupie, and run them the hell out of town and out of our hemisphere.
http://www.alternet.org/story/145819/
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I'd like to offer a bit of advice, if I may.
When you set about to initiate or perpetuate a smear campaign against someone like Ayn Rand, it would serve you better to pick a subject that someone other than the ignorant would actually believe. Anyone who knows anything at all about Ayn Rand would never believe that she would admire someone for any kind of violence, much less for killing children, as no one was more adamant in opposing aggression (initiation of force) than she.
Of course, you may simply have been wishing to appeal to the ignorant in this discussion; if so, you seem to have succeeded.
Anyway, better luck with your future smears.
When you set about to initiate or perpetuate a smear campaign against someone like Ayn Rand, it would serve you better to pick a subject that someone other than the ignorant would actually believe. Anyone who knows anything at all about Ayn Rand would never believe that she would admire someone for any kind of violence, much less for killing children, as no one was more adamant in opposing aggression (initiation of force) than she.
Of course, you may simply have been wishing to appeal to the ignorant in this discussion; if so, you seem to have succeeded.
Anyway, better luck with your future smears.
This article is an exaggeration built on a straw man. Nice attempt at trying to link murder to freedom, but the link is not there. Murder actually is the hallmark of collectivism -- look at the countries which attempted to implement your ideal of socialized everything including medicine. From the Soviet Union to Maoist China to Pol Pot's Cambodia, the fact that communism kills is proven. Escape from the force of the collectivist is made possible only by freedom.
But back to Ayn Rand's true view of Hickman which you conveniently ignored. In "The Journals of Ayn Rand", she is clearly quoted: "[My hero is] very far from him, of course. The outside of Hickman, but not the inside. Much deeper and much more. A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me."
Her only interest in Hickman was his unconventional attitude and the public's reaction to it. She was clearly morally against the crime he committed. All throughout her books is the moral requirement that an individual never initiate force against another -- and its philosophical basis: that the basis of an individual's life is his or her use of reason. Not force.
To leave the impression that Ayn Rand supported the crimes of a kidnapper/murderer is a baseless smear. You are on the edge of libel.
But back to Ayn Rand's true view of Hickman which you conveniently ignored. In "The Journals of Ayn Rand", she is clearly quoted: "[My hero is] very far from him, of course. The outside of Hickman, but not the inside. Much deeper and much more. A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me."
Her only interest in Hickman was his unconventional attitude and the public's reaction to it. She was clearly morally against the crime he committed. All throughout her books is the moral requirement that an individual never initiate force against another -- and its philosophical basis: that the basis of an individual's life is his or her use of reason. Not force.
To leave the impression that Ayn Rand supported the crimes of a kidnapper/murderer is a baseless smear. You are on the edge of libel.
For more information:
http://charlottecapitalist.blogspot.com
Let's see; I read a lot of assertions and opinion, but saw little in the way of background, citation and fact in this 'article." Couldn't be bothered, or would it not have supported your opinions?
Better luck next time, rookies.
Better luck next time, rookies.
For more information:
http://www.peoplepowerhour.com
At the time Ms. Rand wrote about Hickman in her private journal, she was in her early 20's, struggling to learn English, and living on a few cents a day in 1920's Hollywood. She was physically and socially awkward, extremely introverted, and - by all accounts - an incredibly perceptive and intelligent young woman. At the time, her philosophical hero was Frederick Neitzsche - a philosopher she would later fiercely disavow. She was decades away from fully discovering and articulating her mature philosophy.
It is in this context that the young Ms. Rand - an aspiring writer - attempted to describe in her private journal the strange personality of William Edward Hickman. His bizarre, sociopathic behavior had been the subject of media stories for weeks. As she would do throughout her life, when she encountered strange or interesting people, she wrote about Hickman in her journal, tried to understand him, focusing on those qualities that could be used later as characters in her writing. She observed that Hickman MINUS THE SERIAL KILLER could be an interesting (maybe even heroic) character.
If you look at the whole context, there's no scandal here.
Further, (1) writings in her early 20's have no reflection on Ms. Rand's mature philosophy. (2) Musings in her private journals have nothing to do with the validity of the philosophy she publicaly articulated in widely-available books she published in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. (3) The character of Ms. Rand herself has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of her philosopy or any part of her philosophy.
Ms. Rand is now the most influential female intellectual of all time, and over the last few decades her writings have brought tens of millions of Americans to the Republican Party. That's why the left absolutely hates her - and naked, smirking hatred is the only thing this piece demonstrates.
It is in this context that the young Ms. Rand - an aspiring writer - attempted to describe in her private journal the strange personality of William Edward Hickman. His bizarre, sociopathic behavior had been the subject of media stories for weeks. As she would do throughout her life, when she encountered strange or interesting people, she wrote about Hickman in her journal, tried to understand him, focusing on those qualities that could be used later as characters in her writing. She observed that Hickman MINUS THE SERIAL KILLER could be an interesting (maybe even heroic) character.
If you look at the whole context, there's no scandal here.
Further, (1) writings in her early 20's have no reflection on Ms. Rand's mature philosophy. (2) Musings in her private journals have nothing to do with the validity of the philosophy she publicaly articulated in widely-available books she published in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. (3) The character of Ms. Rand herself has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of her philosopy or any part of her philosophy.
Ms. Rand is now the most influential female intellectual of all time, and over the last few decades her writings have brought tens of millions of Americans to the Republican Party. That's why the left absolutely hates her - and naked, smirking hatred is the only thing this piece demonstrates.
If Ted Bundy had been more restrained, would he be an appealing character? He doesn't give a damn, cool..
By the way, to the commenter above - communist dictatorships certainly are not the only examples of mass killing. In fact, sometimes governments weren't even involved in the colonial slaughters, but instead corporations were the chief architects - such as elimination of indian tribes by Hudson's bay company.
Have you ever read about Gandhi. Do you know what they were so angry about? Colonial controllers caused millions to die in 1877 during a drought year because they forced them to export grain and not utilize reserves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378 India and China didn't experience starvation before monarchy and colonialism because the peasants knew how to store food when in control of their own land.
Indonesia has killed hundreds of thousands at a time, all by a right-wing dictatorship. Likewise, colonialism has killed millions in Africa and the americas.
By the way, to the commenter above - communist dictatorships certainly are not the only examples of mass killing. In fact, sometimes governments weren't even involved in the colonial slaughters, but instead corporations were the chief architects - such as elimination of indian tribes by Hudson's bay company.
Have you ever read about Gandhi. Do you know what they were so angry about? Colonial controllers caused millions to die in 1877 during a drought year because they forced them to export grain and not utilize reserves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378 India and China didn't experience starvation before monarchy and colonialism because the peasants knew how to store food when in control of their own land.
Indonesia has killed hundreds of thousands at a time, all by a right-wing dictatorship. Likewise, colonialism has killed millions in Africa and the americas.
The scholarship of this out of context smear of one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived is inexcusible. With the same scholarship one could more easily believe that the author of this article is guilty of admiration for a cold blooded killer.
Try reading the actual journal entries instead of spreading a leftist hit piece. The woman railed against ANY initiation of force in human life. Nice try, but the philosophy of freedom is not going away.
Here's a summary of the article:
"Since I have no real arguments against reason and individualism, I'll use a vague interpretation of some uncited, unquoted notebook entry to show (somehow) that Republicans, Tea Partiers, and other anti-Socialists are members of a murder-worshipping cult."
Ad-hominem much?
"Since I have no real arguments against reason and individualism, I'll use a vague interpretation of some uncited, unquoted notebook entry to show (somehow) that Republicans, Tea Partiers, and other anti-Socialists are members of a murder-worshipping cult."
Ad-hominem much?
If this context-dropping, dishonest smearing of Ayn Rand's character is all you can muster in this intellectual war, then you and your alleged ideas are doomed, and Objectivism has no opponent worthy of the name.
You took one comment she made about a depraved murderer out of context and built an entire article on the mendacious idea that because she saw an aspect of his character as noteworthy and indicative of what she wanted to see in a psychologically normal, idealized person, she admired Hickman in total. She stated that she did not admire him, she saw he was depraved and was repulsed by that. However, the colorful villain is a well known character with universal appeal, and there are many equally depraved criminals who are thought of as "colorful" or "notorious" (i.e., having some appeal despite their depraved actions) when they are guilty of murders as heinous as Hickman’s. Al Capone, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, John Gotti, are examples of gangster murderers, sociopaths each one, who are regarded as noteworthy if not admirable, because they had “panache” or they stood up to society or were individualistic in some way. Full length movies have been made about most of them. This despite all the dead bodies they left in their wake, far in excess of what Hickman did. Yet no one who focuses on an appealing personality trait of these gangsters, or finds a movie about them interesting, is accused of being an admirer of sociopaths. So why is Ayn Rand’s one citation of a single aspect of a notorious murderer, an open and shut case of her having a warped admiration of depravity? This is pure supposition, unsupported by fact or logic.
You evade the battle of ideas and opt instead for character assassination. You don’t cite, let alone analyze or debate, one idea or issue of Objectivism: not the non-initiation of force as the basis for individual rights and coexistence among men; not what constitutes a proper epistemology; not concept formation; not deriving ethics from existence versus an ethics derived from mystical revelation; not one intellectual idea that anyone can analyze, agree with or rebut. This is because you can't analyze or rebut ideas, or you choose not to. Either choice makes you irrelevant. This essay’s purpose is to give people who don’t like Objectivism (but don’t know why) the emotional fuel to continue to hate it and it’s originator, and save them from the effort to understand anything about it.
You took one comment she made about a depraved murderer out of context and built an entire article on the mendacious idea that because she saw an aspect of his character as noteworthy and indicative of what she wanted to see in a psychologically normal, idealized person, she admired Hickman in total. She stated that she did not admire him, she saw he was depraved and was repulsed by that. However, the colorful villain is a well known character with universal appeal, and there are many equally depraved criminals who are thought of as "colorful" or "notorious" (i.e., having some appeal despite their depraved actions) when they are guilty of murders as heinous as Hickman’s. Al Capone, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, John Gotti, are examples of gangster murderers, sociopaths each one, who are regarded as noteworthy if not admirable, because they had “panache” or they stood up to society or were individualistic in some way. Full length movies have been made about most of them. This despite all the dead bodies they left in their wake, far in excess of what Hickman did. Yet no one who focuses on an appealing personality trait of these gangsters, or finds a movie about them interesting, is accused of being an admirer of sociopaths. So why is Ayn Rand’s one citation of a single aspect of a notorious murderer, an open and shut case of her having a warped admiration of depravity? This is pure supposition, unsupported by fact or logic.
You evade the battle of ideas and opt instead for character assassination. You don’t cite, let alone analyze or debate, one idea or issue of Objectivism: not the non-initiation of force as the basis for individual rights and coexistence among men; not what constitutes a proper epistemology; not concept formation; not deriving ethics from existence versus an ethics derived from mystical revelation; not one intellectual idea that anyone can analyze, agree with or rebut. This is because you can't analyze or rebut ideas, or you choose not to. Either choice makes you irrelevant. This essay’s purpose is to give people who don’t like Objectivism (but don’t know why) the emotional fuel to continue to hate it and it’s originator, and save them from the effort to understand anything about it.
It's amazing to me how the wing nuts (sociopaths themselves?) can compartmentalize things so easily. In saying that Rand admired everything about Hickman except for his kidnapping/muder/dismemberment is a little hard for me to swallow. The guy was a serial friggin killer! He was a sociopath! Wake up out of your brainwashed libertarian stupor already!
For more information:
http://deanrittenhouse.com
this article is nonsense, though. rand wrote in her personal journal at age 23, fresh from the horrors of soviet russia that made hickman look like nothing ... and *still* she called him a bad, perverted criminal. i think she likely misread the onlookers' horror, but that is beside the point here. she stood up all her life for a society of total peace and respect for the individual rights of every human being
For more information:
http://www.fuguewriter.com
You cannot libel the dead.
Good note on the Psychopathology of Politics in the Present.
For more information:
http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com
Selfishness Is the Root of All Evil
Selfishness is the root of all evil leading individuals to prioritize their own desires and interests over the wellbeing of others and the planet, resulting in harmful actions, negative consequences, and the destruction of this world. This behavior is not merely a personal failing—it is a societal poison that manifests in environmental destruction, social inequality, and the erosion of democratic institutions.
The Moral Foundation of Selfishness
Selfishness is a core trait associated with both sociopathy and psychopathy, personality disorders characterized by a profound lack of care for others and the world, void of empathy and remorse. Individuals and societies with these traits act on their desires without regard for others' wellbeing, and the consequences ripple outward: pedophilia, rape, murder, corruption, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, white supremacy, ethno supremacy, imperialism, colonialism, genocide, environmental degradation, human caused global warming climate change, ecocide and on and on... —at the root of all this evil is selfishness.
The author Ayn Rand famously attempted to rebrand selfishness as a virtue through her pseudo-philosophy of Objectivism, which promotes "rational self-interest" and rejects altruism. She argued that altruism—the ethical principle of caring for others—was fundamentally evil and that selfishness needed to be "redeemed" as a moral concept. Rand's absurd moral framework reveals a darker foundation. In the late 1920s, Rand became fascinated with psychopath William Edward Hickman, a convicted murderer who brutally tortured, dismembered, and killed a twelve-year-old girl held for ransom. In her working notes for an unpublished novel, Rand described Hickman as having "the true, innate psychology of a Superman," writing that "other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should". This admiration for a psychopathic killer was not an aberration but rather a revealing window into her pseudo-philosophy that celebrates the absence of empathy as a mark of superiority.
Rand's Objectivism, with her disdain for collectivism and her elevation of selfishness, has contributed to the concentration of economic power in the hands of the few, undermining democracy and paving the way for monopolies fascism and sociopaths and psychopaths with no empathy in positions of power. The irony is Ayn Rand in her elder years had to depend on publicly funded Social Security to get by and also Medicare for her lung cancer surgery, which she stubbornly refused was linked to and caused by her heavy smoking. The total amount of benefits received most likely far outweighed whatever money she put into the system. According to her social worker Evva Pryer "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she would be wiped out". Of course the fanatic followers of Ayn Rand will come up with any excuses for what's obvious contradictions and hypocrisy of Ayn Rand and her ridiculous ideas. Even Alan Greenspan, a former staunch devotee of Rand, was forced to admit after the 2008 financial crisis that his faith in unregulated markets had been fundamentally wrong.
Brainwashing and the Cult of Selfishness
Evil often operates through brainwashing and social conditioning—manipulating individuals to adopt harmful beliefs or behaviors without their awareness. This process uses psychological techniques and social pressures to undermine critical thinking and promote loyalty to destructive ideologies being permissive and normalizing harmful people and acts. Ayn Rand's promotion of selfishness as a virtue, echoed in popular culture's celebration of "greed is good," has conditioned masses to do harm for personal gain by any means, at any cost.
Libertarians, Objectivists, right-wingers, neoliberals, conservatives, fascists, white nationalists, ethno supremacists along with Ayn Rand cult fanatics have all been trying to brainwash our society into believing that the self is the most important entity—that the individual matters more than the collective. This ideology is bringing about the death of humanity and the destruction of a world lacking care, empathy, and remorse.
The Libertarian Party, originally with links to the conservative right wing libertarian think tank Foundation for Economic Education, basically a propaganda brainwashing machine for free market capitalism and the Chamber of Commerce serving business and real estate, serves mainly corporate interests while masquerading as a champion of individual freedom. Libertarian Party a shill for big businesses and the elites, promotes deregulation and pro-corporate agendas that prioritize business rights over democratic and public rights, effectively serving as a front for the wealthy and big business monopoly interests and corporate power while masking itself as a champion of individual liberty. This is a ruse designed to confuse and brainwash the masses.
As one commentator notes, "Unrestrained, totally unfettered, purist capitalism IS fascism"—and the Koch brothers, major funders of the Heritage Foundation and libertarian causes along with Peter Thiel, have poured enormous resources into advancing this agenda. The connection between corporate power and fascism is not coincidental: Mussolini's fascist government was supported by a Chamber of Deputies composed entirely of CEOs and corporate representatives.
The Politics of Pathology
The Libertarian Party and Objectivist right-wingers and the numerous conservative think tanks along with the vast majority of legacy and online media including entertainment has been systematically brainwashing people to embrace selfishness and individualism above the collective, thereby destroying humanity and the world. The goal is to create a society that puts profits and personal gain before the planet and the people that lack empathy and remorse—a society where humans no longer care for others or for the planet.
These groups and individuals lack integrity and function as pathological liars. They claim to support small government but actually mean government that serves the elites—those already with wealth and power. This is the crux of these libertarians, right-wingers, and fascists: they are pathological liars who want power and control for themselves. What they promote is not even capitalism free markets but ultimately monopolies, fascism, and the destruction of this world insisting on infinite growth economies. There is no such thing as infinite growth. We live on a finite planet with limited resources. This is another layer of lies and deception.
It is no wonder that these groups and individuals deny human-made global warming and climate change. It is no wonder they push for deregulation. The fusion of corporate and state power undermines democratic principles and threatens the very foundations of accountable governance.
The concept of **pathocracy**—a system of government created by a small pathological minority of sociopaths and psychopaths that takes control over a society of normal people—is increasingly relevant to understanding current political developments. Psychiatrist Andrew Lobaczewski coined this term to describe regimes where individuals with personality disorders rise to power and reshape society in their image. These "spellbinders" use deception, paramoralism (bad faith appeals to morality), and the flooding of public discourse with lies to undermine critical thinking and objective truth.
Corporate Fascism in Practice
The Libertarian Party is a front for big business monopolies and corporate fascism under the guise of individual liberty and freedom. Yet so many people fall for it, drawn like moths to a flame by the promise of "liberty" and "freedom" waved like a carrot on a stick. The Libertarian Party is a ruse—a big lie designed to confuse and brainwash useful idiots for the wealthy elites.
The agenda is clear: destroy democracy, deregulate everything, and eliminate all checks and balances. Liberty and freedom are reserved for the wealthy few—the "Epstein Class"—at the expense of the many. There is no accountability for their illegality and criminality, no responsibility for themselves or others, and no regard for the planet they pollute, damage, and destroy. It is a dog-eat-dog world where the top dog gets everything by any means necessary.
Consider Javier Milei, the libertarian president of Argentina—a favorite of libertarians worldwide. Milei has cut social services and public departments, reducing some to zero funding, while simultaneously increasing the military intelligence and police budget by 200%. The pattern is unmistakable: social services gutted, oversight eliminated, and the state security apparatus expanded. Meanwhile, human rights programs face budget cuts that hinder the search for remains of the 30,000 people "disappeared" during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship's Dirty War (supported by United States using the CIA to overthrow a democratically elected president and then hunt down and kill anyone associated with leftist socialist communist, which for decades USA has been similarly doing to many other countries in South and Latin America and around the world)—a chilling indication of where this ideology leads.
In the United States, Donald Trump and his libertarian fanboys are following the same playbook. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), they are cutting social services, dismantling safety nets, and eliminating oversight departments—all while enriching themselves, increasing the military budget to record levels (now exceeding over one trillion dollars), and creating a murderous terror police state through ICE rounding up the most marginalized and vulnerable.
The cuts have real consequences. One year into these policies, current and former government officials report that the elimination of programs and personnel has "hampered the US government's abilities to prepare for domestic emergencies; monitor terror threats; guard against cyber-attacks; broadcast US information into Iran; and quickly help US citizens stranded abroad". A former State Department official noted that the administration "thoughtlessly terminated people with crisis experience, and now they're left without depth in the bench in the middle of a wide scale and broadening crisis".
Meanwhile, the Pentagon—the very definition of wasteful government spending with trillions of dollars unaccounted for with failed audits—has largely escaped the budget cutter's knife. While agencies like USAID were reduced from 10,000 employees to fewer than 300, the military budget has ballooned, and the administration has proposed over a $1 trillion Pentagon budget—"the biggest one we've ever done for the military," in Trump's words. As one analysis notes, "The Trump and Musk hollowing out of the civilian government, while keeping the Pentagon budget at enormously high levels of funding, means the United States is well on its way to becoming the very 'garrison state' that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against".
The Pathology of Power
Ayn Rand, with her adoration of psychopaths like Hickman as a "superman," and her cult followers in Silicon Valley and among pubescent high schoolers, will be happy to be ruled by sociopaths and psychopaths in a pathocracy. They are bringing about an accelerated collapse of nations, creating a dystopian world where sociopaths and psychopaths with wealth and power reign and take full control over us all, destroying humanity and this planet.
Can you believe that Peter Thiel—the "grease oozing satan" of Silicon Valley—is going around the world gaslighting us, projecting his own pathology, and calling Greta Thunberg the antichrist while he with his company Palantir mass surveils humanity and uses his AI to target and kill countless people in the Gaza genocide and the War in Iran? These sick fascists, these delusional selfish psycho idiots, have no shame.
Libertarians, neoliberal conservatives, and right-wingers follow a near-fanatical religious cult of Ayn Rand, who had great disdain for empathy and anything democratic. Regardless of her age and language challenges in her early years, ask yourself: who admires psychopathic serial killers at any age or in any language? Rand's admiration for a psychopath like Hickman is telling. Her pseudo-philosophy of "Objectivism," and those pushing deregulation and hatred of collectivism, has contributed to the concentration of economic power in the hands of the few, undermining democracy and leading to monopolies, fascism, and the destruction of this world.
The Lies Behind the Ideology
These groups and individuals are pathological liars. They say one thing and do and mean another. "Small government" really means government that serves only the elites—those with existing wealth and power. "Capitalism" really means monopolies and fascism. "Free market" really means no accountability for illegal and criminal behavior.
The pattern is consistent across contexts. In Argentina, Milei cuts social services while expanding the security state and the rich getting richer while everyone else suffers. In the United States, Trump and his allies dismantle democratic institutions and oversight mechanisms while enriching themselves and expanding the carceral prison state. The Libertarian Party, the think tanks and the media serves as a tool, a vehicle for misinformation and indoctrination toward extreme capitalist ideologies where survival of the fittest prevails for monopolies and fascism.
Ultimately, these groups and individuals are pushing for a system beyond societal rules and norms—a culture that promotes the lack of empathy, care, and remorse. This is clearly evident in historical contexts and is painfully clear in current times, where the merging of state and corporate power threatens democratic principles and undermines morals and ethics.
It is no wonder that white supremacists align themselves with libertarians. And there is the Epstein Class of sociopaths and psychopaths with their sex trafficking, pedophilia, and worse, is a perfect example of where this ideology leads: individualism beyond accountability and responsibility, liberty and freedom for the very few at the expense of the many, a Darwinian social economics where the top dog gets it all.
A World Without Empathy
Might makes right, a dog-eat-dog world. A world controlled and run by sociopaths and psychopaths. It is simply not sustainable. It is delusional selfish idiocy. It does not have to be complicated.
The basic facts of physical reality are simple: we live in a finite world with limited resources. The infinite growth model is a lie. The notion that individualism can flourish without collective responsibility is a fantasy. The belief that deregulated markets will solve our problems while destroying our planet is delusional.
The philosopher Theodore Roszak offered a compelling alternative to Rand's hyper-individualism, arguing that in a world requiring more attention to the integral nature of human existence on a fragile planet, "extreme individualism has no place". We are not isolated selves competing in a zero-sum game; we are interdependent beings sharing a finite planet.
**TAKE CARE OF THE PLANET, TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, AND PROTECT THE VULNERABLE.**
These are not radical ideas. They are the basic requirements of survival and human decency. They are the principles that any functional society must embrace. And they are the direct opposite of the selfish ideology that has brought us to the brink of catastrophe.
Selfishness is not strength; it is weakness disguised as self-reliance. Empathy is not weakness; it is the foundation of humanity. Collective responsibility is not tyranny; it is the only path to survival on a finite planet.
The choice before us is stark. We can continue down the path of selfishness, following the pied pipers of pathological individualism toward a dystopian future of corporate fascism, environmental collapse, and social disintegration. Or we can reject this brainwashing, embrace our interdependence, and build a world based on care, empathy, and collective responsibility.
The root of all evil is selfishness. The root of all good is the recognition that we are all in this together—and that the All always includes the self, but the self is not the All.
---
## References
1. Wikipedia contributors. (2020). "Ayn Rand: Admiração pelo assassino William Edward Hickman." *Wikipedia*.
2. Farrar, William. (2024). "Comment on Robert Reich's 'The True Meaning of Memorial Day.'" *Robert Reich's Substack*.
3. Prensa Latina. (2025). "Milei's government plans to reduce military salaries." *Prensa Latina*.
4. CNN Politics. (2026). "'A shell of our former self': How Trump and Musk's spending cuts are hampering US government readiness amid the Iran war." *CNN*.
5. Restakis, John. (2025). "Trump and the Politics of Pathology." *The Tyee*.
6. Zannelli, Bob; Palmer, Anthony J. (2011). "The fountainhead? Really?" *The Free Library*.
7. Kinney, Steve. (2019). "Re: The Libertarian As Conservative." *Open Grid Forum*.
8. Rey, Debora; Calviano, Victor. (2026). "Nearly 50 years later, 'We finally know where they are.'" *Los Angeles Times*.
9. Cole, Juan. (2025). "The Wasteful and Ever-Expanding War Machine avoids DOGE's Axe." *Informed Comment*.
Selfishness is the root of all evil leading individuals to prioritize their own desires and interests over the wellbeing of others and the planet, resulting in harmful actions, negative consequences, and the destruction of this world. This behavior is not merely a personal failing—it is a societal poison that manifests in environmental destruction, social inequality, and the erosion of democratic institutions.
The Moral Foundation of Selfishness
Selfishness is a core trait associated with both sociopathy and psychopathy, personality disorders characterized by a profound lack of care for others and the world, void of empathy and remorse. Individuals and societies with these traits act on their desires without regard for others' wellbeing, and the consequences ripple outward: pedophilia, rape, murder, corruption, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, white supremacy, ethno supremacy, imperialism, colonialism, genocide, environmental degradation, human caused global warming climate change, ecocide and on and on... —at the root of all this evil is selfishness.
The author Ayn Rand famously attempted to rebrand selfishness as a virtue through her pseudo-philosophy of Objectivism, which promotes "rational self-interest" and rejects altruism. She argued that altruism—the ethical principle of caring for others—was fundamentally evil and that selfishness needed to be "redeemed" as a moral concept. Rand's absurd moral framework reveals a darker foundation. In the late 1920s, Rand became fascinated with psychopath William Edward Hickman, a convicted murderer who brutally tortured, dismembered, and killed a twelve-year-old girl held for ransom. In her working notes for an unpublished novel, Rand described Hickman as having "the true, innate psychology of a Superman," writing that "other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should". This admiration for a psychopathic killer was not an aberration but rather a revealing window into her pseudo-philosophy that celebrates the absence of empathy as a mark of superiority.
Rand's Objectivism, with her disdain for collectivism and her elevation of selfishness, has contributed to the concentration of economic power in the hands of the few, undermining democracy and paving the way for monopolies fascism and sociopaths and psychopaths with no empathy in positions of power. The irony is Ayn Rand in her elder years had to depend on publicly funded Social Security to get by and also Medicare for her lung cancer surgery, which she stubbornly refused was linked to and caused by her heavy smoking. The total amount of benefits received most likely far outweighed whatever money she put into the system. According to her social worker Evva Pryer "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she would be wiped out". Of course the fanatic followers of Ayn Rand will come up with any excuses for what's obvious contradictions and hypocrisy of Ayn Rand and her ridiculous ideas. Even Alan Greenspan, a former staunch devotee of Rand, was forced to admit after the 2008 financial crisis that his faith in unregulated markets had been fundamentally wrong.
Brainwashing and the Cult of Selfishness
Evil often operates through brainwashing and social conditioning—manipulating individuals to adopt harmful beliefs or behaviors without their awareness. This process uses psychological techniques and social pressures to undermine critical thinking and promote loyalty to destructive ideologies being permissive and normalizing harmful people and acts. Ayn Rand's promotion of selfishness as a virtue, echoed in popular culture's celebration of "greed is good," has conditioned masses to do harm for personal gain by any means, at any cost.
Libertarians, Objectivists, right-wingers, neoliberals, conservatives, fascists, white nationalists, ethno supremacists along with Ayn Rand cult fanatics have all been trying to brainwash our society into believing that the self is the most important entity—that the individual matters more than the collective. This ideology is bringing about the death of humanity and the destruction of a world lacking care, empathy, and remorse.
The Libertarian Party, originally with links to the conservative right wing libertarian think tank Foundation for Economic Education, basically a propaganda brainwashing machine for free market capitalism and the Chamber of Commerce serving business and real estate, serves mainly corporate interests while masquerading as a champion of individual freedom. Libertarian Party a shill for big businesses and the elites, promotes deregulation and pro-corporate agendas that prioritize business rights over democratic and public rights, effectively serving as a front for the wealthy and big business monopoly interests and corporate power while masking itself as a champion of individual liberty. This is a ruse designed to confuse and brainwash the masses.
As one commentator notes, "Unrestrained, totally unfettered, purist capitalism IS fascism"—and the Koch brothers, major funders of the Heritage Foundation and libertarian causes along with Peter Thiel, have poured enormous resources into advancing this agenda. The connection between corporate power and fascism is not coincidental: Mussolini's fascist government was supported by a Chamber of Deputies composed entirely of CEOs and corporate representatives.
The Politics of Pathology
The Libertarian Party and Objectivist right-wingers and the numerous conservative think tanks along with the vast majority of legacy and online media including entertainment has been systematically brainwashing people to embrace selfishness and individualism above the collective, thereby destroying humanity and the world. The goal is to create a society that puts profits and personal gain before the planet and the people that lack empathy and remorse—a society where humans no longer care for others or for the planet.
These groups and individuals lack integrity and function as pathological liars. They claim to support small government but actually mean government that serves the elites—those already with wealth and power. This is the crux of these libertarians, right-wingers, and fascists: they are pathological liars who want power and control for themselves. What they promote is not even capitalism free markets but ultimately monopolies, fascism, and the destruction of this world insisting on infinite growth economies. There is no such thing as infinite growth. We live on a finite planet with limited resources. This is another layer of lies and deception.
It is no wonder that these groups and individuals deny human-made global warming and climate change. It is no wonder they push for deregulation. The fusion of corporate and state power undermines democratic principles and threatens the very foundations of accountable governance.
The concept of **pathocracy**—a system of government created by a small pathological minority of sociopaths and psychopaths that takes control over a society of normal people—is increasingly relevant to understanding current political developments. Psychiatrist Andrew Lobaczewski coined this term to describe regimes where individuals with personality disorders rise to power and reshape society in their image. These "spellbinders" use deception, paramoralism (bad faith appeals to morality), and the flooding of public discourse with lies to undermine critical thinking and objective truth.
Corporate Fascism in Practice
The Libertarian Party is a front for big business monopolies and corporate fascism under the guise of individual liberty and freedom. Yet so many people fall for it, drawn like moths to a flame by the promise of "liberty" and "freedom" waved like a carrot on a stick. The Libertarian Party is a ruse—a big lie designed to confuse and brainwash useful idiots for the wealthy elites.
The agenda is clear: destroy democracy, deregulate everything, and eliminate all checks and balances. Liberty and freedom are reserved for the wealthy few—the "Epstein Class"—at the expense of the many. There is no accountability for their illegality and criminality, no responsibility for themselves or others, and no regard for the planet they pollute, damage, and destroy. It is a dog-eat-dog world where the top dog gets everything by any means necessary.
Consider Javier Milei, the libertarian president of Argentina—a favorite of libertarians worldwide. Milei has cut social services and public departments, reducing some to zero funding, while simultaneously increasing the military intelligence and police budget by 200%. The pattern is unmistakable: social services gutted, oversight eliminated, and the state security apparatus expanded. Meanwhile, human rights programs face budget cuts that hinder the search for remains of the 30,000 people "disappeared" during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship's Dirty War (supported by United States using the CIA to overthrow a democratically elected president and then hunt down and kill anyone associated with leftist socialist communist, which for decades USA has been similarly doing to many other countries in South and Latin America and around the world)—a chilling indication of where this ideology leads.
In the United States, Donald Trump and his libertarian fanboys are following the same playbook. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), they are cutting social services, dismantling safety nets, and eliminating oversight departments—all while enriching themselves, increasing the military budget to record levels (now exceeding over one trillion dollars), and creating a murderous terror police state through ICE rounding up the most marginalized and vulnerable.
The cuts have real consequences. One year into these policies, current and former government officials report that the elimination of programs and personnel has "hampered the US government's abilities to prepare for domestic emergencies; monitor terror threats; guard against cyber-attacks; broadcast US information into Iran; and quickly help US citizens stranded abroad". A former State Department official noted that the administration "thoughtlessly terminated people with crisis experience, and now they're left without depth in the bench in the middle of a wide scale and broadening crisis".
Meanwhile, the Pentagon—the very definition of wasteful government spending with trillions of dollars unaccounted for with failed audits—has largely escaped the budget cutter's knife. While agencies like USAID were reduced from 10,000 employees to fewer than 300, the military budget has ballooned, and the administration has proposed over a $1 trillion Pentagon budget—"the biggest one we've ever done for the military," in Trump's words. As one analysis notes, "The Trump and Musk hollowing out of the civilian government, while keeping the Pentagon budget at enormously high levels of funding, means the United States is well on its way to becoming the very 'garrison state' that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against".
The Pathology of Power
Ayn Rand, with her adoration of psychopaths like Hickman as a "superman," and her cult followers in Silicon Valley and among pubescent high schoolers, will be happy to be ruled by sociopaths and psychopaths in a pathocracy. They are bringing about an accelerated collapse of nations, creating a dystopian world where sociopaths and psychopaths with wealth and power reign and take full control over us all, destroying humanity and this planet.
Can you believe that Peter Thiel—the "grease oozing satan" of Silicon Valley—is going around the world gaslighting us, projecting his own pathology, and calling Greta Thunberg the antichrist while he with his company Palantir mass surveils humanity and uses his AI to target and kill countless people in the Gaza genocide and the War in Iran? These sick fascists, these delusional selfish psycho idiots, have no shame.
Libertarians, neoliberal conservatives, and right-wingers follow a near-fanatical religious cult of Ayn Rand, who had great disdain for empathy and anything democratic. Regardless of her age and language challenges in her early years, ask yourself: who admires psychopathic serial killers at any age or in any language? Rand's admiration for a psychopath like Hickman is telling. Her pseudo-philosophy of "Objectivism," and those pushing deregulation and hatred of collectivism, has contributed to the concentration of economic power in the hands of the few, undermining democracy and leading to monopolies, fascism, and the destruction of this world.
The Lies Behind the Ideology
These groups and individuals are pathological liars. They say one thing and do and mean another. "Small government" really means government that serves only the elites—those with existing wealth and power. "Capitalism" really means monopolies and fascism. "Free market" really means no accountability for illegal and criminal behavior.
The pattern is consistent across contexts. In Argentina, Milei cuts social services while expanding the security state and the rich getting richer while everyone else suffers. In the United States, Trump and his allies dismantle democratic institutions and oversight mechanisms while enriching themselves and expanding the carceral prison state. The Libertarian Party, the think tanks and the media serves as a tool, a vehicle for misinformation and indoctrination toward extreme capitalist ideologies where survival of the fittest prevails for monopolies and fascism.
Ultimately, these groups and individuals are pushing for a system beyond societal rules and norms—a culture that promotes the lack of empathy, care, and remorse. This is clearly evident in historical contexts and is painfully clear in current times, where the merging of state and corporate power threatens democratic principles and undermines morals and ethics.
It is no wonder that white supremacists align themselves with libertarians. And there is the Epstein Class of sociopaths and psychopaths with their sex trafficking, pedophilia, and worse, is a perfect example of where this ideology leads: individualism beyond accountability and responsibility, liberty and freedom for the very few at the expense of the many, a Darwinian social economics where the top dog gets it all.
A World Without Empathy
Might makes right, a dog-eat-dog world. A world controlled and run by sociopaths and psychopaths. It is simply not sustainable. It is delusional selfish idiocy. It does not have to be complicated.
The basic facts of physical reality are simple: we live in a finite world with limited resources. The infinite growth model is a lie. The notion that individualism can flourish without collective responsibility is a fantasy. The belief that deregulated markets will solve our problems while destroying our planet is delusional.
The philosopher Theodore Roszak offered a compelling alternative to Rand's hyper-individualism, arguing that in a world requiring more attention to the integral nature of human existence on a fragile planet, "extreme individualism has no place". We are not isolated selves competing in a zero-sum game; we are interdependent beings sharing a finite planet.
**TAKE CARE OF THE PLANET, TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, AND PROTECT THE VULNERABLE.**
These are not radical ideas. They are the basic requirements of survival and human decency. They are the principles that any functional society must embrace. And they are the direct opposite of the selfish ideology that has brought us to the brink of catastrophe.
Selfishness is not strength; it is weakness disguised as self-reliance. Empathy is not weakness; it is the foundation of humanity. Collective responsibility is not tyranny; it is the only path to survival on a finite planet.
The choice before us is stark. We can continue down the path of selfishness, following the pied pipers of pathological individualism toward a dystopian future of corporate fascism, environmental collapse, and social disintegration. Or we can reject this brainwashing, embrace our interdependence, and build a world based on care, empathy, and collective responsibility.
The root of all evil is selfishness. The root of all good is the recognition that we are all in this together—and that the All always includes the self, but the self is not the All.
---
## References
1. Wikipedia contributors. (2020). "Ayn Rand: Admiração pelo assassino William Edward Hickman." *Wikipedia*.
2. Farrar, William. (2024). "Comment on Robert Reich's 'The True Meaning of Memorial Day.'" *Robert Reich's Substack*.
3. Prensa Latina. (2025). "Milei's government plans to reduce military salaries." *Prensa Latina*.
4. CNN Politics. (2026). "'A shell of our former self': How Trump and Musk's spending cuts are hampering US government readiness amid the Iran war." *CNN*.
5. Restakis, John. (2025). "Trump and the Politics of Pathology." *The Tyee*.
6. Zannelli, Bob; Palmer, Anthony J. (2011). "The fountainhead? Really?" *The Free Library*.
7. Kinney, Steve. (2019). "Re: The Libertarian As Conservative." *Open Grid Forum*.
8. Rey, Debora; Calviano, Victor. (2026). "Nearly 50 years later, 'We finally know where they are.'" *Los Angeles Times*.
9. Cole, Juan. (2025). "The Wasteful and Ever-Expanding War Machine avoids DOGE's Axe." *Informed Comment*.
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