Ayn Rand's Final Public Lecture: "The Sanction of The Victims"

ladies and gentlemen I am honored to present to you miss pine ran [Applause] ladies and gentlemen since the subject of the seminar is investment I must start by stating that I am NOT an economist and have no purely economic advice to give you but what I'm anxious to discuss with you are the preconditions that make it possible for you to gain and to keep the money which you can then invest I shall start by asking you a question on a borrowed premise what human occupation is the most useful socially the borrowed premise is the concept of social useless it is not part of my philosophy to evaluate things by a social standard but this is the predominant standard or very today and sometimes it can be very enlightening to adopt the enemy standard so let us borrow the notion of social concern for just a little while just long enough to answer the question what human occupation is the most useful socially since man's basic tool of survival in his mind the most crucially important occupation is the discovery of knowledge that is the occupation of scientists but scientists are not concerned with society with social issues or with other men scientists are essentially loners they pursue knowledge of knowledge a great many scientific scientific discoveries and technological evolution and did not affect human existence the steam engine for instance was known in ancient Greece but knowledge of that sort remained an exclusive concern that lived and died with the scientists and for century after century had no connection to the lives of the rest of mankind now suppose that the group of men decided to make it their job to bring the results of the achievements of science within the reach of men to apply scientific knowledge to the improvement of man's life on earth wouldn't such men be the greatest social benefactors as I have been since the Industrial Revolution will you excuse me please I don't want any pictures taken of me please gentlemen don't bother me honey I am much too old for that just leave me as I am wouldn't fetch me and be the greatest social benefactors as I have been since the Industrial Revolution shouldn't is socially concerned humanitarians those who hold social usefulness as their highest value regard such men as heroes if I say no such men are not regarded as heroes today they are the most hated blamed denounced men in the humanitarian Society would you believe me or would you think that I'm inventing some sort of irrational fiction and would you say that something is wrong terribly wrong in such society but this isn't all there is something much worse it isn't merely the fact the destroyed men are the victim of an unspeakable injustice it is the fact that they are first to perpetuate injustice against themselves that their that a public stance of Perpetual apology and universal appeasement proclaim themselves guilty of an unspecified evil begging the forgiveness of every two-bit intellectual every unskilled laborer every unemployed politician no this is not fiction what country is the United States of America today that self-destroying group of men is you the American businessmen when I see you I mean the group as a whole I accept the tenet that potent company is accepted however if any of you find their shoes at fits where it was my compliments Karl Marx predicted that capitalism would commit suicide the American businessmen are carrying out that projection in destroying themselves they are destroying capitalism of which they are the symbol and product in America which is the greatest increased example of capitalism man has ever reached there is no outside power that can destroy such men in such a country only an inner power can do it the power of morality more specifically the power of the contemptible evil idea accepted as a moral principle altruism remember that altruism does not mean benevolence or consideration for other men altruism is a moral theory which preaches that man must sacrifice himself for others that he must place the interests of others above his own that he must name for the sake of others altruism is a monstrous notion it is the morality of cannibals devouring one another it is a theory of profound hatred for men I seem to have competition here okay it is a theory of profound hatred for men for little for achievement for any form of human success or happiness on earth altruism is incompatible with capitalism and with anguish businessmen businessmen are a cheerful benevolent optimistic predominately American phenomenon the essence of their job is the constant struggle to improve human life to satisfy human needs and desires not to practice resignation surrender and worship of suffering and here is the profound between businessmen and altruism businessmen do not sacrifice themselves to others if they did they will be out of business in a few months or days they profit they grow rich they are rewarded as they should be this is what the altruist the collectivist and others and humanitarians hate the businessmen for that they pursue a personal goal and succeeded it do not fool yourself by thinking that out rates are motivated by compassion for the suffering they are motivated by hatred for the successful the evidence is all around us [Applause] thank the evidence is all around us but one small examples fix my mind is extremely relevant in nineteen surges an assistant of Jane Addams the famous social worker went on a visit to study at russia and wrote a book about her experience I remember is how wonderful it was to see everybody equally shabby clothes if you think that you should try to appease the altruist this is what you are appeasing the great tragedy of capitalism and of America is the fact that most business men help accepted the morality of altruism and are trying to live up to it which means that their doom before they start another contributor evil is the philosophical but root of altruism which is mysticism the believe in the supernatural which bridges content for matter for wealth well-being or happiness honors the Mystics are constantly crying appeals for your pity your compassion your help to the less fortunate yet they are condemning you for all the qualities of character that make you able to help them Eagle series have to rely on even means in order to hold their victims altruism and character ISM cannot appeal to human virtues they have to appeal to human weaknesses and where there are not enough weaknesses they have to manufacture them it is in the nature of altruism and collectivism that the more they use need a person or a group the more they denounce victims injured guilt and struggle never to let the victims discovered their own importance and acquire self-esteem the businessmen are needed most by the so called humanitarians because the businessmen produces the sustenance the humanitarians are unable to produce that custom next in the hierarchy are being needed and observed hostility the denunciations and the attempts to enslave the doctors in today's society most businessmen today have accepted the feeling of guilt in him by the outrage they are accused of anything and everything for instance a courage to know the businessmen for the refusal to sacrifice themselves to the smell that and the professionals what but the businessmen actual guilt is their treason against themselves which is also their treason against their country the statement that aroused such fury among the collectivist what was good for General Motors is good for the country was true and the reverse is also true what's bad for industry is bad for his country I am here to ask you a question on my own not unbearable premises what are you doing to the advocates of capitalism particularly the young appeasement is a betrayal not only ones own birth but of all those who share one's values if for whatever misguided reason businessmen are indifferent to an ignorant of philosophy particularly moral and political philosophy it would be better if they kept silent rather than spread the horrible advertisements that make us dream Jews embarrassment by us I mean advocates of capitalist marble oil ran ads in the New York Times which stated the following I quote from memory what of the expression free private responsible enterprise we strike out free and private as a non-essential one of the big industries advertisers on television that they are full of quote people working for people for sport and some other big company announces on television that his goal is quote ideas that help people I do not know what the guest will be our man who came up with the slogan wanted us to think so the companies worked for free whether they traded with people rather than with animals actually their purpose was to suggest populism in some indirect kind it was actually the desire to give the impression that businessmen work for nothing but others for the people that they're in fact no better than the politicians the worst of the bunch is some new group in Washington DC called something like committee for the American Way which puts out a television commercial showing some ugly coming for his people of all kinds each proclaiming that he likes a different kind of music I like rock and roll and I like jazz and I like breath joven etc and green olive oil declaring this is the American Way with every man entitled to have and express his own opinion I who come from Soviet Russia can assure you so that debates and differences of that kind what about political or philosophical issues why didn't they show people disagreeing about nuclear weapons or about abortion affirmative action if that committee stands for the American Way there is no such wait and younger observe also that in today's proliferation of pressure groups the world sort of an skilled labor is regarded as the public and present claims to society in the name of the public interest and is encouraged to assert his right to elaborate but the businessmen the intelligent creative the successful men who make the rappers livelihood possible have no rights as a legitimate interests are not entitled to their their profit every kind of ethnic group is enormously sensitive to any slide if one made in the rugged theory remarked about the Kurds of Iran thousands of voices would leap to their defense but no one speaks out for businessmen when they are attacked in himself by everyone as a matter of routine what causes just overwhelming injustice the business men's own policies their betrayal of their own various therapies or enemies they're compromised or which add up to an air of moral colleges add to it the fact that businessmen are creating and supporting their own destroyers the sources and centers of today's to us article corruption are the universities businessmen those contain thank you that is the most important point businessmen are both contemptuous of and superstitiously frightened by the subjective philosophy there is an issue circle involved here businessmen have good ground to despise philosophy and as it is taught today but it is thought that way because businessmen have abandoned the intellect to the lowest rung of the unemployable all the transitions and ideas necessary to turn men into object a helpless serves of dictatorship the incidence of today's higher education as a tight monopoly with very few and rare exceptions hatred of reason and worship of behind emotions hatred of the success and worship of self-sacrifice hatred of the individual and worship of the collective these are the fundamental notion that dominated a university this notion conditioned and paralyzed the minds of young if you want to discover how a country's philosophy determines its history by Leonard Peikoff to be published this coming spring by Steinem day this brilliant book presents the philosophical similarities between the state of America's culture today and the state of Germany's culture in the Weimar Republic in the years preceding the rise of Naziism after you read this book you will know the power philosophy and you will know that one cannot play with it as irresponsibly as people do today nor can one ignore it it is the business man's man as it supports American Universities not merely in the form of taxes and government handouts but much worse in the form of voluntary private contributions donations and diamonds in preparation for this lecture I tried to do some research on the nature and amounts of such contributions I had to give it up it is too complex and too best a field for the efforts of one person to untangle now would require major research project and probably here's the work all I can say is only that millions and millions and millions of dollars are being donated to universities by big business enterprises every year the donors have no idea what their monies being spent on words country business anti-capitalism propaganda has been financed by businessmen in such projects money is a great power because in a free or even a semi free society it is a frozen form of energy productive energy and therefore the spending of money is a grave responsibility contrary to the alterus and the advocates of the so called academic freedom it is a moral crime to give money to support ideas with which you disagree it means ideas which you can see the wrong false and evil it is a moral crime to give money to support your own destroyers yes that is what businessmen are doing with such reckless irresponsibility on the faculties of most colleges and universities the advocates of reason individualism and capitalism are a very small minority often represented by feeble specimen of window dressing but the variant minority of authentic fighters is struggling against overwhelming odds and growing very slowly the hardships injustice and persecutions suffered by these young advocates of Reason and capitalism are two terrible story to be told bravely these are the young people whom businessmen should support or if businessmen are too ignorant of academic issues academic methods alone but to support irrationalism nearly socialism coming against the young denying them jobs recognition or a mere healing is an unforgivable outrage on the part of your responsible businessman who imagine that is morally safe to give money to institutions of higher learning [Applause] the lasting influence of the universities is caused by the fact that most people question the truth or falsehood up to Islamic ideas only in their youth and whatever they learn in college marks them for life if they are given intellectual poison as they are today they carry it into their professions particularly in the humanities observe the lifeless grains the boring mediocrity of today's culture observe the empty pretentiousness and mawkish sentimentality after they staged trained television writing there are no serious dramas any longer and crutch view as attempt to be serious are leftist collectivist persuasion on this subject I can speak from personal experience for several years a distinguished producer in Hollywood has been attempting to make a television miniseries or a movie of my novel that was shrugged he was stopped on two counts one he could not find the right able to write romantic drama even though there are many good writers in Hollywood romanticism is completely unknown to them and two he could not raise the money for his project allow me to say even though I do not like to say that if there existed in all of the same value and popularity Atlas Shrugged but written to verify collectivism which will be a contradiction in terms it would have been produced on the screen long ago you're not I hope applauding that fact that there are too many supporters of the left kind of writers well I do not believe in giving up and so in answer to many questions I chose this occasion to make a very special announcement I am writing a 9-hour teleplay for Atlas Shrugged very much intend to produce the miniseries myself there is a strong possibility I will be looking for outside financing to produce the Atlas Shrugged threes I'm not afraid of that in conclusion let me touch briefly on another question often asked me what do I think of President Reagan the best answer to give would be but I don't think of him and the more I see the less I did not vote for him nor for anyone else and events seem to justify me the appalling disgrace of his administration is his connection with so-called moral majority and some very other severe religious thank you who are struggling apparently with his approval to take that back to the Middle Ages by the unconstitutional union of religion and politics the threat to the future of capitalism is the fact that Reagan might fail so badly that he will become another ghost like Herbert Hoover to be involved as an example of capitalism's failure for the next 50 years observe Higgens future attempts to arouse the country by some sort of inspirational appeal he is right in thinking that the country needs an inspirational element but he will not find it in the God family tradition swamp the greatest inspirational leadership just as we could ever find rest in the hands of the most typical American group the businessman but they could provide it only exact well philosophical so the fans and self-esteem here is what young Americans have to say about it I quote from the may 15th 1980 you of the intellectual activists a newsletter published by Peter Schwartz feminists threatened to publicize the names of psychologists who hold their convention in a state which has not yet endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment union is protest political functions that serve letters not approved by Cesar Chavez here businessmen are willing not simply to tolerate the negotiations of free enterprise but to financially sponsors course and I quote from an article by M Northrop Bigler the root of terrorism in the October 1981 issue of the Objectivist forum published by her means Langer quote imagine the effect if some prominent businessmen were to defend publicly their right to their own life imagine the earth-shaking social reverberations if they were to assert their moral that excuse me if they were to assert their moral right to their own profits not because those pockets are necessary for economic progress or the elimination of poverty which are purely collectivist justifications but because a living being has the right to live and progress and do the best he can for his life for the time he has on this earth I recommend both these publications very highly you may write to the intellectual activist at 1/3 1/5 avenue new york new york 1 0 0 0 3 and so the objective is firm at box 5 3 1 1 New York New York 101 5 Oh as for me I will close with a quotation which is probably familiar to you and I will say that the battle for capitalism will be won when we find a present capable of saying quote the world you desire can be won it exists it is real it is possible it's yours but to win it requires your total dedication and a total break with the world of your past with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others fight for the value of your person fight for the virtue of your pride fight for the essence of that which is men for his sovereign rational mind fight with the rage in certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the morality of life and that yours is the battle for any achievement any value any grandeur any goodness any joy that has ever existed on this earth what are your feelings about the media today [Music] [Music] [Music] the next question is do you think that the United States should continue to sell today [Music] [Applause] [Music] at this next question is at this point in time would you please throw me one of the next questions or more pragmatic business nature where do we sign up to invest in the production company for Atlas Shrugged [Applause] [Music] [Music] would you please comment on the next question is please clarify your comments on the moral majority I do not understand your position [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] next question is when and what events the development of your ideas yes when and what events led to the development of your ideas i which is the next question is a man's life as a standard of value [Music] next question is how can we teach our children next question is what actors would you cast in Atlas Shrugged before you finish the script and form the company I have some very good ideas subject but still need to mention some poverty next question is miss Rand you are a woman and we have been down do you approve of er a and if so why [Music] [Music] [Applause] how would you define but it's not for me [Applause] what do you hate the poor and disadvantaged because he preaches not suffering in submission but success he tells his congregation that every man can succeed in what he understands what you can do each statement about the poor Jesus fellows the best way to help the poor is not to be one of them [Applause] in a university if there's next question is is there any help from Russia next question since Congress has collective rises through the Internal Revenue Service what can be done is it time for another [Music] [Music] next question is what is the justification [Music] - blood there handsome [Applause] next question is who are some of your favorite writers of novels some will just ask you to kindly repeat some of the names I think addresses you mentioned in your talk and specifically here the question is what was the name of the book that you suggested we read that will be published in the spring [Music] next question is how specifically is Reagan's conservative capitalist government's hoping destroy capitalism to stay in power [Music] I think this would now have to be the final question are there any new books forthcoming we would love to know after I finish with the ministry is a rapper assured that's my project at present after that I have several projects in mind but it's too early to talk about it thank you for your answers yeah oh very much I certainly appreciate goodbye you

Channel: Ayn Rand Institute

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Keywords: ARI, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand Institute, Fountainhead, Individualism, Objectivism, Objectivist, Philosophy, Rights, Capitalism, Liberty, Secular Humanism, Libertarian, Conservative, business, ethics, economics, corporate wealth, wealth, corporations, ayn rand's last public lecture, ayn rand interview, the sanction of the victims, Ayn Rand Philosophy, Objectivism Explained, Identity, ayn rand speech, victims, sanction, economy, profit, victimized, victimization, victim blaming, marxism, rgv

Id: 1M8AusmUSJU

Length: 52min 13sec (3133 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 13 2015