The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

Although speaking in a different time and in response to different circumstances, Ayn Rand's political and societal observations offer food for thought. Here are just a few quotes:

"The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees. By dent of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other until one day they are declared to be the country’s official ideology."

"The end does not justify the means. No one’s rights can be secured by the violation of the rights of others."

"Ideas cannot be fought except by means of better ideas. The battle consists not of opposing but of exposing. Not of denouncing but of disproving. Not of evading but of boldly proclaiming a show more full, consistent, and radical alternative. This does not mean that rational students should enter debates with the rebels or attempt to convert them. One cannot argue with self-confessed irrationalists. The goal of an ideological battle is to enlighten the vast, helpless, bewildered majority in … the country at large, or rather the minds of those among the majority who are struggling to find answers. Or those who, having heard nothing but [the other side’s sophistries for years] have withdrawn in revulsion and given up. … The first step is to make one’s self heard."

"In the absence of intellectual content, the students resort to personal attacks. Practicing with impunity the old fallacy of ad hominem, substituting insults for arguments with hooligan rudeness and four-letter words accepted as part of their freedom of speech. Thus, malice is protected; ideas are not."

"The thing that permits men to utter public statements which, if believed, would cause people to run from them as from lepers is the fact that no one believes it. Most people have been conditioned to regard broad generalizations, abstract ideas, fundamental principles, and logical consequences as impotent, irrelevant, invalid or non-existent. “Oh, they don’t mean it,” is the general attitude. … Well, Hitler too, announced his abstract principles and goals in advance and evoked a similar reaction from the pragmatists of the time. The Soviets have openly preached world conquest for 5o years and have conquered 1/3rd of the globe’s population. Yet some people still do not believe that they mean it."

"The key feature that a radical core uses legitimate issues ambiguously in order to manipulate a large mass is identical [to the Communist fronts of the 1930s]."

"If and when the public opinion of a free country accepts a distinction between political and non-political criminals, it accepts the notion of political crimes. It supports the use of force in violation of rights and the historical process takes place in reverse. The country crosses the line into political despotism."

"Men who deny individual rights cannot claim, defend, or uphold any rights whatsoever."

"The inculcation of hatred for other tribes [or societal/political groups] is a necessary tool of tribal rulers who need scapegoats to blame for the misery of their own subjects. There is no tyranny worse than ethnic rule"

Many of Rand's observations in this book remain relevant today, as long as one looks at them from a larger perspective while separating them from her targets at the time of writing. That said, I could have done without Peter Schwartz's essays at the end. His outdated views on environmentalism (echoed by Rand), that it is an endless resource that exists to serves mankind's needs, left me with little to appreciate. His overly simplistic view of gender rights in the workplace ignore past evidence showing how many women continue to be over-looked and/or underpaid despite their performance (https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t... and https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/a...). Overall, what value I received from Return of the Primitive came from some of Rand's thoughts on individual rights and the destructive mentality used by authoritarian groups and their leaders. show less

12/9/21