• Making another dive into evils of the deep 
Seth Schiesel, New York Times Altruism  BioShock took players beneath the Atlantic to the underwater Art Deco dystopia known as Rapture in a fearless, mesmerizing depiction of Randian philosophy run amok. Rapture was built on the ocean floor in the 1950s by a tycoon named Andrew Ryan as a hyper-libertarian escape from the strictures of government, religion and morality on the surface. As a banner in Rapture proclaims: “Altruism is the root of all wickedness.”     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand’s character model of a “real man” was child killing sociopath 
Tim McCown, The Examiner Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Inaccurate  Ayn Rand's writings have no more business being the guiding principles of our political and economic policy than do Marx's. Sadly a brilliant but extremely mentally ill woman never got the help she needed. But sociopathy is not a solution but a mental illness to be treated. Rand's ideas were given very little credibility when she wrote them and they deserve even less creditability now.     Share on Facebook

• • Bad to the bone… 
Eric Alterman, The Nation - Altercation Altruism  Egoism  Harry Binswanger  The Mail: [....] Name: John Barker. Postal: Des Moines, IA. As Harry Binswanger is a self-described "pathetic soul" I guess for me to say it would just be redundant. I would like to answer his assertion that there is no argument for altruism. In reality it's a practical matter, not one of philosophy. Society simply requires some level of cooperation in order to function. The egocentric world of Ayn Rand is death to society because no one person is capable of being totally self sufficient, yet no one should do for anyone else unless they get the better of the transaction.     Share on Facebook

• • I game, therefore I am 
Joshua Ostroff, Exclaim! Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Gaming has mostly been viewed as merely reactive and, besides some puzzle-solving, hardly a workout for one's mental muscles. Ah, but then along came BioShock in 2007, a thinking person's first-person shooter rooted in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Rand ― and her inspired-by BioShock avatar Andrew Ryan ― reject the sublimating influence of altruistic religion, activist government and socialist economics in favour of a hyper-capitalist and ultra-libertarian creed of self-sufficiency, self-interest and, indeed, selfishness. [....] The first BioShock was widely interpreted as a takedown of Objectivism ― but the sequel, while admittedly made by a different creative director, reveals the series to more concerned with dismantling any ideology that is taken to its extreme.     Share on Facebook

• • Islam is the enemy 
Edward Cline, Family Security Matters Altruism  The Fountainhead  Objectivist author  In war, as well as in peace, as a nation’s policy or as a personal one, the object of selflessness and altruism is to sacrifice a value for a non-value, to elevate mediocrity as a means of razing shrines. (See Ellsworth Toohey’s speech on the means and ends of altruism wedded to collectivism in Ayn Rand’s novel, The Fountainhead, for clarification on that issue.)     Share on Facebook

• • • Literary smackdown: Ayn Rand, awesome or awful? 
Willy Blackmore and Billy Pacholski, Chicago Tribune - Printers Row Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Alan Greenspan was an Ayn Rand disciple in the ‘50s and brought her hands-off, anti-regulation ideas to the Fed, which didn't pan out too well. Neither Greenspan nor Rand are totally responsible for the Great Recession, but it seems that Rand’s thinking was one of the many causes for our near financial collapse. Yet somehow a lot of conservative politicians still thought it was logical to talk about “going Gault” — a la “Atlas Shrugged” — in the early days of the Obama administration when ideas for the stimulus bill were first being batted around. And I really don’t buy Rand’s “altruism is evil” philosophy.     Share on Facebook

• • Love yourself first? 
Mike Nally, Orange County Register (CA) Altruism  Egoism  It was hard to stomach Gary Hull's warped contention that love is the most selfish experience ["Celebrate true meaning of love," Guest Column, Feb. 15]. As a young philosophy/theology student I read both Ayn Rand and Martin Buber. Rand called her philosophical system Objectivism, and her rejection of the ethic of altruism left me cold. On the other hand, Martin Buber's philosophy of personal dialogue (how we engage each other, the world and God) lit a fire deep in my soul.     Share on Facebook

• • • Can the free market be saved without Rand? 
Marsha Enright And Gen LaGreca, Daily Caller Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Rand’s morality of rational, enlightened self-interest defends the individual’s right to his own life, the power of his own liberty, and the glory of his pursuit of his own happiness. She said: “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive work as his noblest achievement, and reason as his only absolute.” Her message—that “man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads”—is a message of the glory of the individual, unshackled and free. We urgently need Rand’s vision of the moral nobility and greatness of a social system based on enlightened self-interest if we, the 21st century advocates of freedom, are to finally free the world from the death grip of collectivism. And that is a vision we must defend with “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”     Share on Facebook

• • A new era for video games 
Jesse Singal, Boston Globe Altruism  If you have some level of familiarity with the source material, the game also serves as a critique of Rand’s Objectivist philosophy (Andrew Ryan, Ayn Rand - get it?), a brand of libertarianism in which altruism is weakness and the story of modern society is told as a conflict between productive, hard-working industrialists and the countless nattering parasites (the government, organized religion, advocates for the poor) seeking to leech off of their brilliance and initiative.     Share on Facebook

• BioShock 101 - The story so far 
GamesRadar Altruism  Rapture is a haven for the world’s greatest artists, scientists and thinkers to work freely, unrestrained by government and religion; a place where any citizen can achieve for their own gain, rather than for altruistic fulfillment and wants of others – an ‘objectivist’ paradise.     Share on Facebook

• • • Philosophy, ethics, and capitalism: An Interview with BB&T chairman John Allison 
Eric B. Dent and John A. Parnell, Academy of Management Learning & Education Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Leonard Peikoff  (Full article requires subscription.) Interview, commentary, and critique.[Allison:] In 1993 or 1994 I read Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff. This book really integrated everything for me. It enabled me to focus my thinking. By this time, I had been CEO of BB&T for a few years and we were in the midst of a merger of equals. It was very important that we have a clearly defined value system. Two large organizations with cultures that had some differences had to come together with a single value system. Peikoff's book put everything together for me. We had some of the basics of a value system—honesty, integrity, traditional conservative business values, but we also held a number of contradictions. What Rand's philosophy did for me was to provide a framework for how to integrate all the disparate pieces. I could see everything in a different way than I had seen before. Rand's philosophy provided an ordering. It also clarified concepts. For example, people often mix up justice with mercy. From Rand I learned that justice requires that you reward those who contribute the most with the most, which implied that paternalism is unjust; failing to deal with nonperformance is unjust. Also, rationality is the foundation for values, and rationality cannot be compromised.     Share on Facebook

• • • A Rand revival 
Cathy Young, RealClearPolitics Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Rand frames even human relations in terms of trade (our concern for loved ones is based on the positive things they bring to our lives) and offered at best lukewarm support for charitable aid. When charity is mentioned in Rand's fiction, it is nearly always in a negative context. In Atlas Shrugged, a club providing shelter to needy young women is ridiculed for offering help to alcoholics, drug users, and unwed mothers-to-be. Family fares even worse in Rand's universe. In her 1964 Playboy interview Rand flatly declared that it was "immoral" to place family ties and friendship above productive work; in her fiction, family life is depicted as a stifling swamp. In pure form, Rand's philosophy would work very well if human beings were never helpless and dependent on others through no fault of their own.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand: Engineer of souls 
Anthony Daniels, The New Criterion Altruism  Atheism  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Capitalism  Egoism  Leonard Peikoff  Personal life  Review of Ayn Rand and the World She Made, by Anne C. Heller.Rand’s virtues were as follows: she was highly intelligent; she was brave and uncompromising in defense of her ideas; she had a kind of iron integrity; and, though a fierce defender of capitalism, she was by no means avid for money herself. The propagation of truth as she saw it was far more important to her than her own material ease. Her vices, of course, were the mirror-image of her virtues, but, in my opinion, the mirror was a magnifying one. Her intelligence was narrow rather than broad. Though in theory a defender of freedom of thought and action, she was dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant, not only in opinion but in behavior, and it led her to personal cruelty. In the name of her ideas, she was prepared to be deeply unpleasant. She hardened her ideas into ideology. Her integrity led to a lack of self-criticism; she frequently wrote twenty thousand words where one would do.     Share on Facebook

• • A look into the philosophy of BioShock 2 
Steven Hopper, GameZone Altruism  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Egoism  While reading up on Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead might give you more of a background when it comes to playing a game like Bioshock, it's not entirely necessary, considering that regardless of your personal ethics and understanding of the game's broad concepts, if you like playing a great game with a deep and complex story and even deeper influences you'll enjoy a game like Bioshock and its upcoming sequel.     Share on Facebook

• • Self-expression reigns in BioShock 2 
Darren Zenko, Toronto Star Altruism  Egoism  The BioShock universe, for those who've not sampled it, is centred around Rapture, the undersea Objectivist paradise created by mad tycoon Andrew Ryan. [....] BioShock 2 presents Rapture 10 years later, now under the care and control of altruist/collectivist Dr. Sophia Lamb and her Big Sisters – and no less nightmarish for the change in management from Rand to Marx and Mill. "Ryan's philosophy of rational self-interest was so extreme, his political rivals had to be similarly larger than life to pose any real threat to him," Thomas explains.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand shrugged! 
Babu G. Ranganathan, Pravda Online Altruism  Ayn Rand misunderstands the concept of Christian altruism and the proper context in which Christian altruism is to be applied. Christian altruism does not mean that we should give to others unconditionally in all circumstances because that would not be for the true benefit of others. Christian love seeks what is for the true benefit of others, not whatever they desire or want. For example, the Bible teaches that a person who is not willing to work should not eat. Therefore, feeding such a person is wrong since it would only be helping to increase the selfishness of such a person.     Share on Facebook

• • Rules for capitalism 
Joseph Gormley, News-Press (Fort Myers, FL) Altruism  Capitalism  Egoism  Economic conservatives believe society functions best when individuals and corporations relentlessly pursue self interest. The role of government is to get out of the way. Greed is good. This behavior has the unintended but certain effect of moving all of society forward. In the words of one of their heroes, Ayn Rand: “If civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.” Isn’t that the opposite of “What would Jesus do?” What kind of creative thinking do religious conservatives use to deal with this ideological problem? My problem with unregulated capitalism is it doesn’t work.     Share on Facebook

• • •Upcoming debate tackles questions about Christians and capitalism 
Kay B. Day, The US Report Altruism  Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Egoism  Yaron Brook  I believe Rand’s principles are not incompatible with the Christian faith. For her, the contract or promise was sacred, a covenant. Rand’s philosophy, though she had no love for any religion, belonged to the marketplace and the free exchange of goods. She saw corporate cronyism as theft. Despite her declining the idea of organized religion, she set forth high standards in her philosophy, and I would call them moral standards.     Share on Facebook

• • The cross and the dollar sign — are they incompatible? 
Garry Reed, The Examiner Altruism  Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Egoism  Yaron Brook  On February 2, Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute and Jennifer Morse of the Acton Institute will meet at Stanford University to debate the question: "Is Christianity Compatible With Capitalism? Egoism Vs. Altruism." Libertarians reject what they call corporatism because it's a state-created legalism that grants private business organizations certain political privileges and protections, but embrace laissez-faire capitalism because it embodies the natural process of free people freely trading in a free society. And while Christian libertarians embrace free market capitalism many non-libertarian Christians do not.     Share on Facebook

• A New Year’s meditation on race 
Wednesday Journal (Oak Park, IL) Altruism  I am capable of being disappointed when, encountering someone needing assistance, I find myself unable or unwilling to help. I can hear the scoffing now from the Objectivist/Libertarian crowd. I don't care. I am comfortable in the certainty that the willingness to reach out to someone in genuine need, one on one, is the noblest human impulse.     Share on Facebook