This was one of the blogging topics suggested to me by WordPress, and I found it to be very thought-provoking.
If I had to name one force, concept, or school of thought that has had – and still has – the most destructive potential for all of us, I’d say it has to do with wanting to force your understanding of happiness on other people. It’s the self-righteous benefactors of humanity who have been this planet’s greatest scourge.
The people who decided they needed to bring the word of Jesus and the benefits of civilization to the indigenous peoples of the Americas and ended up wiping out entire cultures.
The people who wanted to eradicate poverty and exploitation once and for all and ended up creating the repressive monstrosity known as the Soviet Union.
The folks who keep invading other countries under the guise of liberating them from whatever and imposing “freedom” and democracy onto them.
The fanatics who bomb abortion clinics to force unwanted, unloved, rejected kids to be born.
Such people are impossible to reason with and to combat because they are driven by the belief in their inner goodness and altruism.
Ayn Rand gets criticized a lot for saying that
If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.
I’m sure, however, that she’s right. It’s these compassionate do-gooders who know for a fact what’s best for you that do the greatest damage to others. A person motivated by selfishness at least doesn’t humiliate you while s/he exploits you by telling you this is all for your own good. A selfish person motivated by simple, honest greed doesn’t demand your eternal and abject gratitude in return for robbing you.
What do you think? What is the most destructive force humanity has ever faced?
P.S. For those of you who missed my post on helping people, here it is. It was very popular when it was first published but Blogspot ate all the dozens of comments it generated.
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