Corruption Being Rewarded and Honesty Becoming a Self-Sacrifice
I’m an attentive yet ADD reader so I’ve been getting through this book rather slowly… forgive me… more Ayn Rand.
“When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but my compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work - and your laws don’t protect you against them, but them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot”(383).
This quote itself comes from a long rebuttal given by one of the main characters in Atlast Shrugged in response to the idea that ‘money is the root of all evil’.
I’ve been thinking about this and trying to put my thoughts to words but I can’t seem to do them justice…
Disregarding the overarching theme of the speech, the idea that hit me the most was “when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice”. I think that this can be applied to so many aspects of society. From the large scale economic/societal corruption referred to by Francisco d’Aconia in this passage to local communities to the relationships within families and friends. The idea that corruption can overpower righteousness and honesty is chilling to me, especially growing up in an environment where I was taught that good always overcomes evil. But it doesn’t. And I’ve realized this. There are impossible struggles. There are situations that cannot be improved. There are people that cannot be helped. Despite all of the goodness, righteousness, and honesty that is thrown at it…some battles are won by corruption. The worst of it is, that being truthful does not only lose an individual the battle, but it is suicidal to the cause! Being a fighter for truth can lead to the individuals personal downfall, REGARDLESS of how right they may be! And when this unjust reality is evident in all of society…then what?
