now that I am down with sore throat and a running nose, I’m unable to post any stuff….so I thought may be I could use some of Ayn Rand’s words as were written in The Fountainhead:
Not selfishness, but
precisely the absence of a self. Look at them. The man who cheats and lies, but
preserves a respectable front. He knows himself to be dishonest, but others
think he’s honest and he derives his self-respect from that, second-hand. The
man who takes credit for an achievement which is not his own. He knows himself
to be mediocre, but he’s great in the eyes of others. The frustrated wretch who
professes love for the inferior and clings to those less endowed, in order to
establish his own superiority by comparison. The man whose sole aim is to make
money. Now I don’t see anything evil in a desire to make money. But money is
only a means to some end. If a man wants it for a personal purpose–to invest in
his industry, to create, to study, to travel, to enjoy luxury–he’s completely
moral. But the men who place money first go much beyond that. Personal luxury is
a limited endeavor. What they want is ostentation: to show, to stun, to
entertain, to impress others. They’re second-handers. Look at our so-called
cultural endeavors. A lecturer who spouts some borrowed rehash of nothing at all
that means nothing at all to him–and the people who listen and don’t give a
damn, but sit there in order to tell their friends that they have attended a
lecture by a famous name. All second-handers.
That, precisely, is the deadliness of second-handers. They have no concern for
facts, ideas, work. They’re concerned only with people. They don’t ask: ’Is this
true?’ They ask: ’Is this what others think is true?’ Not to judge, but to
repeat. Not to do, but to give the impression of doing. Not creation, but show.
Not ability, but friendship. Not merit, but pull. What would happen to the world
without those who do, think, work, produce? Those are the egotists….
faraz qamar
Imaging Perception 