How Ayn Rand Brought You Kim Kardashian and the Cult of Self-Obsessed Celebrity

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http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-ayn-rand-brought-you-kim-kardashian-and-cult-self-obsessed-celebrity



Just about any philosopher or religious leader, not to mention nearly anyone you meet walking down the street, could tell you that selfishness is not a virtue. If you are old enough to apply for a driver’s license, you can probably work out that selfish behavior has detrimental effects on all of us. Even if you’re not quite ready to give it up.

But not Ayn Rand. The 20th-century doyenne of destructive capitalism, dear to self-centered college sophomores and those, like Paul Ryan, who have not yet grown out of their me-first phase, declared aloud what a lot of jerks tend to keep to themselves: the idea that selfishness is awesome. Rand even wrote a book on the theme, The Virtue of Selfishness.

In Rand’s vision of individualism gone wild, total selfishness is transformed from a vice into the highest aim of human existence. The male heroes of her novels, when they aren’t having coercive sex with women (He moved one hand, took her two wrists and pinned them behind her, under his arm, wrenching her shoulder blades)are busy spouting their enthusiasm for selfishness, like Howard Roark, the architect in Rand's novel The Fountainhead. “The first right on earth is the right of the ego,” declares Roark. “Man’s first duty is to himself.”

From Rand’s warped perspective, self-sacrifice is demeaning and altruism is barbaric and corruptive. Any denial of the self is pure wickedness. To live only for yourself and do just want you want, whenever you want to do it, is the greatest good.

[treestar]

1. The question is, why are people even interested in Kim Kardashian?

What's the draw? Who would buy a book with a bunch of photos of her? How can that be worth anything to anyone?

[logosoco]

3. That is a good question.

So many people doing great things and they get no recognition at all. And look how much she spends on clothes at a time when many cannot even afford decent housing. That is going to be something for future historians to ponder.

[Orsino]

2. Damn, that's harsh. n/t