Validation

I finished "The Fountainhead" and immediately tried to apply every aspect of the book to my own life like I always do. After reading through my comments though, I found that Jim is not quite the fan. In case you don't want to look, this is what Jim wrote:

According to Rand, the individual "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." Hmmmm, sounds a lot like the fiscal conservatives of the Republican party. Rand didn't believe in religion so I guess the social conservatives would find her offensive. Rand gives greedy people a rational for their repugnant behavior. It is especially helpful to those who have huge advantages at birth such as white males with rich parents.


Rand does believe what Jim said, but I don't think her point should be easily misconstrued as allowing greed and the pursuit of money, fame and fortune control a person. In fact, she makes this quite clear as one of her characters does just that an ultimately is one of the most defeated characters. Rand definitely doesn't give greedy people a rational for any immoral behavior. In most cases, the greedy people in the world have sold out more than anything to that culture. I give this quote in response from a speech in the book by the main character.


“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.
“No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building—that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew or inhabited the thing he had created. The creation, not its users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men.
“His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man's spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego"


Especially because I chose an unconventional path after college of focusing solely on poker and all the people that have said I couldn't do it, I like this part of the book. Even when reading and learning about real estate and seeking out opportunities, I've heard probably 50 doubters. I know that I seek validation with so many people for what I'm doing. When someone asks me what I do for a living, I usually cringe inside because I know the standard response. The collective mind of society has never progressed society. I probably won't either playing the game of poker or investing in real estate to rent to people; however, when the ideas that I am looking for to change the world come into my head, I hope I have enough courage to not listen to standard response of all the people I usually seek validation from.

I believe Lil Wayne interpreted Ayn Rand in a different manner.

"They say I couldn't play football I was too small, they say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall, they say I couldn't play baseball at all; now everyday of my life I ball!"


The whole speech I took that part from is at this link





On an end note, I don't know how many people watched the 60 minutes online poker special, but it certainly didn't help my attempts to validate myself to the people of the United States of America. While I'm sure I've been cheated in many different ways in online poker, it's part of the risk and until the US government stops treating online poker like alcohol in the 1930's, I'm sure more scandals like this will keep popping up.

You can watch the video here.