A conversation with an altruist
by Marty Lewinter
One day, I had the following conversation with an altruist:
Me: If terrorists held 10,000 hostages and threatened to kill all of them unless you stepped forward and allowed them to kill you, what would you do?
Altruist: I would die to save 10,000 people.
Me: Suppose they rejected your offer but agreed to accept your son’s life, instead. What then?
Altruist: I wouldn’t hand over my son.
Me: Isn’t that being selfish?
Altruist: No. I would do it to save my son – not to save myself.
Me: Just because he is your son, how does that make his life worth more than 10,000 lives? Furthermore, why is your son’s life worth more than your own?
Then I asked him if he would donate his left eye so that a virtuous blind man could have vision. He declined to be “fair” and was quite content to keep both eyes.
Now Ayn Rand exposed the error of the altruist in just a few brilliant sentences. The altruist substitutes the question “Who shall be the beneficiary of values?” for the primary questions, “What are values and why does man need them?” I’m sure anyone reading this is not learning anything new.
So why is altruism so popular? One important cause is the emphasis most religions place on helping others, while heaping scorn on concerns for one’s own happiness – especially the happiness that comes from material objects and sensory stimulation.
Altruism is powerfully embedded in our TV shows, movies and books, whether or not their creators are religious. It is part and parcel of our culture. We give medals to those who save others – and rarely recognize those who worked hard to earn their degrees, their careers and their wealth. After all, those people are working to promote their own happiness.
Altruism erodes a free society by chaining the needs of individuals to the needs of others. It heaps scorn on the creators of wealth and prosperity while putting the poor on a pedestal. The rich are “filthy” while the poor are victims of greed. Again, Ayn Rand does a fantastic job bringing these ideas home in Atlas Shrugged.
If you find yourself engaged in a conversation with an altruist, challenge him with questions that will reveal his hypocrisy. If he lives in a large house, ask him if he will take in ten immigrant workers living in squalor. Does he drive an expensive car? He can drive a used car and donate the money saved to the poor. And how immoral is it to spend $5,000 on a vacation when that money could be better spent (barf!) on poor people.
When I was a child, I lived in a poor household. At the age of 19, I drove a cab, played guitar at weddings, and tutored kids in mathematics. It never occurred to me to ask others for help. I worked hard and became moderately financially successful. I would have despised anyone who said, “Poor kid. Let’s give him some charity.”
Altruism is a despicable doctrine that, in addition to being wrong, robs all participants – givers and takers – of dignity. It is, was, and will be used by every totalitarian state to justify its power over the individual citizen. It must be fought tooth and nail in the fight for freedom.
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