brianwilsonrocks!!!!!!!!! asked:
Objectivism is basically a philosophy steeped in the principle that you should worry about you and you alone, and caring about other people is not your problem. So how come all these humanitarians like Angelina Jolie and Neil Peart–the people that you see on TV adopting African babies and raising awareness about the situation in Tibet (like we don’t know already)–are such self-proclaimed fans of Ayn Rand? It doesn’t seem to make much sense.
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Objectivism is basically a philosophy steeped in the principle that you should worry about you and you alone, and caring about other people is not your problem. So how come all these humanitarians like Angelina Jolie and Neil Peart–the people that you see on TV adopting African babies and raising awareness about the situation in Tibet (like we don’t know already)–are such self-proclaimed fans of Ayn Rand? It doesn’t seem to make much sense.
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These so called humanitarians are obviously serving themselves.
Non-profits are quite profitable. Many non-profit executives earn well into six figure incomes. A few leading non-profit Executive Directors have earned over seven figure incomes.
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seems to be a case of celebrities not quite understanding that which they pretend to support….maybe Rand is “in vogue” right now (like Kabbalah or something)
maybe it is seen as a way to help those adopted kids pursue their own happiness and a role in capitalism and maybe that makes the celebs happy (so, in a way they are pursuing their own happiness) – maybe…it still doesn’t seem to make sense, though
maybe they imagine themselves silly, silly libertarians
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Objectivist ethics does not prescribe indifference to others – it is not a system of shoulds. The main precept is reason: make reality the standard of your mental processes, judgments, choices. As a corollary, take responsibility for your own life and happiness, first.
Choose “selfish” values (i.e. that are genuinely yours) to motivate and guide your life.
It happens, sometimes, that people truly wish to help others, and to varying degrees give of their own time, energy and resources.
(I’m not so sure about Angelina; if she cares so much why doesn’t she give her public voice to fight for free markets and free minds in the hellholes these kids have to grow up in.)
The problem is preaching service to others as a moral duty, or any form of “placing one’s prime concern within others”.