2 minute read
Philosophy in Action
“As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy,” observed Ayn Rand. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy through conscious, disciplined thought, “or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap” of wishes and slogans, “fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt— like a ball and chain in the place where your mind’s wings should have grown.”
For years, government education and failed Marxists seeking refuge in postmodernist grievance politics have been relentlessly adding to the “junk heap” of ideas—from critical race theory to social justice to safe spaces to climate apocalyptics. Young people shackled with a “mongrel philosophy” of guilt, entitlement, and fragility are entering the labor market less focused on work and more focused on “woke” signaling, with little understanding not just of the exigencies of operating a business but of the morality of ownership, trade, and responsibility.
Throw into that precarious mix a political, health “expert” and media class who reacted to a global pandemic with panic-fueled, power-hungry, massively destructive measures which bespoke an Orwellian disregard of science in the name of science—and with a breathtakingly callous disregard for the damage caused. The ensuing violence was more than pent-up frustrations with lockdowns and expressions of racial anger. No, people internalized the government’s unintended message: “If our leaders don’t care about truth, about property, about freedom, about beauty... then why should I?“
But for those of us who still do care, who don’t take cues from politicians, who swim against the nihilistic cultural tide—who yearn to live not as nostalgic rememberers of “better days” but as pioneers on the frontier of a freer, more dynamic tomorrow, we are paving the path to that frontier
at The Atlas Society. The young people who join our webinars, seminars, book clubs—who flock to our speakers and throng our booths with the return to in-person conferences—they are the young pioneers of that future, a future which is real, which exists, which is possible, which is theirs. At The Atlas Society, we seek not to prepare the road for the young person but to prepare the young person for that road. Here’s how we’re doing it—with your help.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Meet Our Newest Scholars ......................................... 5
“Draw My Life” Animated Videos..............................11
Special Projects...........................................................15
