by Jason Stotts
Being at the Objectivist conference has given me a rare perspective on the state of the culture in America, since being here is so different from being out in the “real world”. Being in a place where rational thought is upheld as a virtue, where people are all friendly and open and welcoming, and where there are actual intelligent people is a big change from what I am accustomed to. You see at an Objectivist conference, what is glorified is the dignity in man’s nature and the awesome power of his intellect.
It is, however, a different story out in the “real world”. In the “real world” what is glorified is not what is noble about man, but what is base. In rap videos and in movies, we see a brutish drug culture idealized. In our streets and schools we see the ignorant and stupid brute being glorified and the intelligent individuals derided!
We live in a culture where we are not only depraved by having inverted the hierarchy of what is noble and ignoble, but worse we live in a culture that glorifies death.
What is the way of the Brute? It is savagery, ignorance, stupidity, hedonism – it is all those things which are ignoble about man’s nature and proper only to animals. In a word, the way of the brute is death.
What is the way of Man? It is cooperation, knowledge, intelligence, rational egoism – it is all those things which are noble about man’s nature and proper to the life of man qua man. In a word, the way of man if Life.
We need to stop being a culture that enshrines the injustice of the decadent inversion and instead uphold justice. We must stop glorifying the brute and uphold the image of man living as man, we must glorify what is noble about our nature, what is pure in our spirit, and proper to our life qua man.
That is, if we are to survive – if we desire not to I can think of no better way of destroying ourselves than by glorifying death.