At this moment I am working on another project that is devoted to the essential importance of human choice. The core concept that a human has a moral right to exist on their own terms and pursue their own goals. Obviously there are limits to that, the initiation of violence being one of them.
Now certainly there is a lot of room for discussion and disagreement of where in our society the line between the individual freedoms and the freedoms of others intersect but what I simply will never entertain is the idea that an individual is obligated to sacrifice themselves or their goal for the betterment of ‘the masses’.
The tension between the concepts of the individuals right to exist and the demands of some that the individual sacrifice his/her self on the alter of the needs of others is at work in many ways these days. Many groups function entirely on the belief that as victims, or in the name of a nebulous victim group, they have a claim on our very desires, thoughts and souls.
It is no shock that you can often find the same people in many of the same movements and groups. Radical feminism. Communism. Socialism. Extreme environmentalism. All the myriad variations of political correctness. Many portions of the so called ‘peace’ movement. Hell, a good chunk of the far left for that matter.
We find the same people in all these groups for a simple reason. The philosophy of enslaving the individual to the group runs through them all. Let’s look into it as typified by radical feminism.
“And even IF (big hypothetical) the woman on the screen has consented to having 3 men simultaneously penetrate her vaginally, anally, and orally and then ejaculate into her eyes, even if she, herself, does not feel exploited, many, many women who see it DO feel violated, exploited, angry, and in pain. Do their/our feelings not count?” – Heart speaks again (hat tip to Jo22 @ I Can’t Fly)
Essentially the core belief is that you should stop making your own choices and start making sure you live for anyone else on the planet who disapproves of you. You have no right to your own choices. You have no right to fuck who you want, why you want. You have no right to your own body or life. You must make every choice to cater to the weakest among the population. Does any of that echo in the words below?
“We are nothing. Mankind is all. By the grace of our brothers are we allowed our lives. We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen.” – the pledge in Anthem
The next question is, really, who is is that feels so hurt and upset by what another woman chooses to do with her body? They claim again and again how much it upsets them, hurts them, makes them sad. They go on and on about their feelings. What feelings? This quote might help…
“There was a woman from the audience who stood at that microphone, crying, and spoke about feeling deep pain because she’ll never know if the man she’s having sex with loves her for who she is, or if he’s imagining her as a porn actress, wanting her to act like the women in his DVDs, and how *robbed* she feels because of that.”- Heart speaks again (hat tip to Jo22 @ I Can’t Fly)
In essence, the feelings are that of insecurity and paranoia. That woman has trust issues so clearly it isn’t her problem or her mates problem… it is all our fault. We should all make sure we pretend that sex isn’t fun and that watching people have sex is OK and that enjoying being watched is fine as well. We should all shut down our freedom and our agency so that she can feel good about herself? I don’t think so.
As usual, Rand can put into words the core reality of this struggle. There are a number of feminists I read every day. These are women who are strong, who make their own choices and who have sometimes blogged eloquently about breaking from the confines of the group think. They have chosen to be themselves and make their own decisions. They have chosen to refuse the oppression of others who claim dominion over their thoughts and actions by virtue of their claims of victimization and weakness.
For those who have rejected the politics of guilt and living under the judgment of others, I’ll leave you with these words (also from Anthem)…
“And yet there is no shame in us and no regret. We say to ourselves that we are a wretch and a traitor. But we feel no burden upon our spirit and no fear in our heart. And it seems to us that our spirit is clear as a lake troubled by no eyes save those of the sun. And in our heart– strange are the ways of evil!–in our heart there is the first peace we have known in twenty years.” – Equality 7-2521 in Anthem
Enjoy!
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