Dear Atlas Society Supporter,
Rising inflation, depleted savings, looming layoffs, plummeting consumer confidence—all these factored heavily into the recent midterms. But while voters fear a possible Great Recession, a deeper shift is driving social dysfunction: The Great Regression.
The college professors on our scholar faculty recount how each new class of freshmen arrive on campus markedly less mature than their predecessors. Instead of welcoming hatchlings ready to take intellectual flight, administrators find themselves incubating fragile, fearful eggs, insulating them with the styrofoam of speech codes that further extends the expiration date of adolescence.
Over Thanksgiving, recently, my parents reminded me how much I hated being a child and what a desperate hurry I was in to grow up. This impatience fostered behaviors ranging from reckless (regularly climbing down from my second-story bedroom to sneak into downtown Boston nightclubs) to responsible (getting jobs and earning money). Whether it was the clothes I wore, the friends I chose, the habits I adopted, or the attitudes I affected, my parents (rightly) complained that I was “trying to grow up too fast.”
Their grandchildren, by contrast, belong to a generation that’s far less likely to take risks in general; and while some of that is welcome (e.g., less underage drinking), much of it is born of an exaggerated sense of fear, whether inculcated by overprotective parents or fearmongering media.
Not only are children taking longer to become adults, adults seem to be regressing into children. Witness the recent round of tantrums thrown by climate activists. Dumping milk on grocery floors. Hurling food against the wall. Sitting on the floor and refusing to move. Demanding that they be brought their potty. All infused with puerile indignation and accusation. “My life is over!” has become “The world is ending!” accompanied by demands for parental governments to fix the planet.
What’s going on here? Researchers describe “infantile personalities” as characterized by “low demands on self, accompanied by high demands on society.” It is laziness born of low confidence in one’s own agency: “An infantile person seeks to escape the need to adequately assess objective social reality.” More fundamental than any fear of a climate apocalypse, the eco-anxiety so prevalent among the young is a deeper disquiet Ayn Rand described this way:
“When men abandon reason, they find not only that their emotions cannot guide them, but that they experience no emotions save one: terror… the unbearable inner state of men who are deprived of their means of cognition and who seek escape from reality.”
Her observation rings even more true today, with “young people’s dread of independence” driving “a frantic desire to ‘belong,’ to attach themselves to some group, clique, or gang.” Just as
primitive man sought physical shelter from Mother Nature, too many of today’s young people seek to avoid the requirements of their own nature (reason). Some even go as far as attempting to alter their own biological nature to gain membership into a marginalized and, therefore, socially protected class.
Whether it’s marching for the “marginalized,” protesting for the planet, or coming out as “trans,” such moves offer more than a sense of solidarity—they offer a sense of social and moral significance. And at present, the easiest route to moral significance is to adopt Victimhood as an identity. For these unfortunates, as Israeli psychologist, Sam Vankin, observes: “Victimhood endows their life with meaning; it makes sense of the world. It’s an organizing principle.”
Ironically, one of the favorite smears against Ayn Rand by the left is that her books appeal to an alienated, adolescent sensibility—or as former President Obama dismissively remarked a decade ago: “Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up.” It’s ironic, not because her fiction is populated primarily by adults but because it celebrates adult virtues: reason, independence, productivity, and hard-earned pride.
That, as much as her page-turning narratives, is precisely why her novels resonate with morally ambitious young people making their way toward adult independence. In fact, she described the appeal of her fiction and philosophy in this way:
“There is a fundamental conviction which some people never acquire, some hold only in their youth, and a few hold to the end of their days—the conviction that ideas matter… That ideas matter means that knowledge matters, that truth matters, that one’s mind matters. And the radiance of that certainty, in the process of growing up, is the best aspect of youth.”
That is the conviction that inspires our work at The Atlas Society—and that we seek to inspire in the young people we serve. The challenge and opportunity we face in our mission is that even among the idealistic and motivated young people we meet through our work, many, if not most, of them have never heard of Ayn Rand. Many have never heard of (much less read) Atlas Shrugged, and few have any inkling of Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism.
We may wish that things were different. We may wish reading habits hadn’t changed, or that young people preferred profound, epic novels instead of graphic novels. We may wish that they’d raptly listen to long lectures rather than browsing Instagram or TikTok. But, of course, wishing won’t make it so.
Which is why at The Atlas Society, we make a very deliberate study of what young people read and watch. We specifically design beacons to attract attention and invite engagement. We deploy hundreds of such beacons every month: from graphic novels distributed at ComicCons to animated videos and edgy social media memes. Each beacon shines a light on a path for further learning—whether that’s an iconic Ayn Rand interview, a discussion group hosted by our faculty, or an opportunity to hear from modern day Randian heroes—visionaries like Chip Wilson, Peter Thiel, Peter Diamandis, and Michael Saylor.
We presented one such opportunity in October, at our 6th Annual Gala in Malibu, California. Generous donors sponsored 40 students to attend the event, which for the first time ever included daytime panels with five members of our faculty and outside guests like Michael Saylor.
The day opened with discussions of Objectivism & Politics, Objectivism & Technology, and Objectivism & Bitcoin—and the evening closed with a panel on “A New Vision for Diversity: Individualism vs. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT),” with Kmele Foster joining our Senior Scholars Jason Hill, Ph.D, and Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.
Of course, the event also served as an opportunity to update our community on our progress over the past year—so for those who missed the chance to attend the gala in person, allow me to share a few of our most impressive accomplishments of 2022.
First, back in January, we had set deliberately ambitious goals for the calendar year. And if we reach them all by New Year’s, I’ll personally be disappointed. Why? Because that will mean we failed to be audaciously ambitious enough.
That said, here are a handful of 2022 goals we’ve already reached or surpassed before year’s end:
• Produced eight new “Draw My Life” videos (surpassing goal of producing six)
• My Name is Ukraine
• My Name is Karl Marx
• My Name is Francisco D’Anconia
• My Name is Cuba
• My Name is Critical Race Theory
• My Name is Crypto
• My Name is Woman
• My Name is Democracy
• Increased video views on English videos by more than 50% from 1 million to 1.6 million
• TRIPLED the number of Clubhouse chats (a live, audio-only social media platform) and DOUBLED the average attendance
• Tripled our attendance at ComicCons around the country, boosting this year’s distribution of graphic novels to over 66,000
• Increased social media following across all platforms by 30%
• Increased Average Per Post Engagement on Facebook by 60%, from approximately 16,800 to 26,000 (This means that of the 40 pieces of content posted each week to Facebook, EACH ONE elicits 26,000 shares, comments and likes.)
• Translated 50% more animated videos into foreign languages–from 14 last year to 21 this year
• Increased the number of newsletter sign-ups by 50%
• Increased the total number of Morals & Markets podcast listens by 400%
• Published 50% more books/ebooks in 2022 over 2021: including Pocket Guide to Capitalism, Objetivismo: Preguntas y Respuestas, Truth and Toleration in Spanish, and an ANTHEM graphic novel in Spanish.
• Doubled the number of Spanish Twitter Spaces (live audio conversations hosted on Twitter)
• Produced 31 new videos about Objectivism in Spanish—featuring Antonella Marty on the fundamentals of Ayn Rand’s philosophy
While meeting such “stretch” goals shows the drive and productivity of our small but growing team, it represents only a tiny fraction of The Atlas Society’s output and impact over the past 12 months. The day-in and day-out, nose-to-the-grindstone efforts of our staff and faculty has produced an impressive tally, including 148 live opportunities to learn from our A-Team of Objectivist scholars, encompassing;
• 12 Morals & Markets seminars hosted by Richard Salsman, Ph.D
• 12 Atlas Intellectuals sessions hosted by Stephen Hicks, Ph.D
• 11 Book Club meetings
• 113 Clubhouse chats hosted by our rotating faculty
The topics covered are too many to list, but they range from: “Ask Me Anything About Philosophy” open discussions, to deep dives into hot button issues of race and abortion, to reviews of the Heroes & Villains of Education.
“Great work by the Atlas Society. Always have wonderful sessions with proactive engagement of audience and members. Continually doing new work to spread their strong message around one of the most important topics, critical thinking.” Arthur H.
And, if that’s not enough, here’s more we accomplished in 2022:
• Tripling our attendance at live events where we sent speakers and hosted exhibition events—up from 7 last year to more than 21 in 2022—giving The Atlas Society a presence on the ground from coast-to-coast and, increasingly, in Latin America
• Hosting 52 live episodes of “The Atlas Society Asks.” (I’ve had the privilege to interview luminaries including The Terminal List author Jack Carr, Peter Diamandis, James Lindsay, and famous rapper, Zuby. Since launching in the spring of 2020, we’ve hosted 130 such interviews—all of which are also now available as podcasts)
• 214.6 million global impressions on social media and 24 million direct audience engagements where people have shared, commented on or “liked” our content. The Atlas Society has achieved a dominant presence across eight social media platforms. True
to our focus on youth engagement, our Instagram and Tiktok accounts have organically attracted engaged audiences 2.4 times and 11.8 times larger than the next leading Objectivist pages, respectively. We even surprised ourselves this year on Twitter, where we now have the largest audience of any Objectivist organization
At The Atlas Society, we never rest on our laurels, which is why we’ll be setting our sights even higher in 2023. Here’s a sneak peek at next year’s plans …
In 2023, we plan to produce more great programs and content to reach more young minds including:
The first ever “book trailer” of Atlas Shrugged. Much like the film trailers promoting upcoming movies, publishers have adapted the format to promote blockbuster books. Thanks to a generous donor, we’ll produce and distribute a trailer for Ayn Rand’s masterpiece, specifically geared at new audiences.
New publications including a Pocket Guide to Socialism, a Pocket Guide to Self-Interest, and our long-awaited, third graphic novel, Top Secret (based on notes from Ayn Rand’s never-produced screenplay about the making of the atom bomb). These will be distributed and incorporated into the agenda at the most ambitious of our 2023 plans
The Atlas Society’s first-ever student conference, July 27th- and 29th, 2023. During this three-day “Rand Camp,” the six members of our faculty will teach and engage with select students on Rand’s literature and philosophy. While our primary focus is to provide young people with a stimulating introduction to Objectivism and an opportunity to network with their peers, we’ll also be inviting a select number of sponsors to join us to audit and enjoy the retreat.
As I look forward to entering my eighth year at the helm of The Atlas Society, I’m enjoying the privilege of building and growing this great organization more than ever, and I’m deeply grateful for all of you who make this work possible with your generous financial support.
Your encouragement, your insights, your friendship—and your financial investment—have inspired and empowered me and the team to continue to dig ever deeper, and aim ever higher, as together we propel The Atlas Society to new heights.
Our Chairman, Jay Lapeyre, recently had this to say at our fall gala: “I just want to share my perspective, as someone who is privileged to support and advise many organizations in the liberty space—organizations with budgets and staffs many orders of magnitude larger than those of The Atlas Society. I marvel at how much this small, dedicated team is able to do with relatively little— and can only imagine what they could achieve with a bit more support.”
Atlas Society Supporter, I can not only imagine it—I can generate, organize, and execute the next phase in The Atlas Society’s expansion. But I can’t do it single-handedly. I can’t do it without the enormous contributions of our staff and faculty. And I can’t do it without your support.
We’re asking for your investment for the next stage in The Atlas Society’s growth. Since David Kelley founded the organization in 1990, his vision of a benevolent, entrepreneurial, and open
approach to spreading Ayn Rand’s ideas has paved the way for the phenomenal growth we enjoy today—growth grounded in a strategy that welcomes partnerships, takes creative risks, pioneers original artistic content, and leverages emerging, exponential technologies.
We are poised to enter 2023 with tremendous momentum. At a time when morally ambitious young people are also poised to turn away from the perpetual adolescence of victimhood, envy, and entitlement, we face an uphill battle against an educational system designed to thwart individualism, reason and critical thinking. The time to project our message is now. Today, I invite you to join us in this momentous quest with a generous year-end gift.
The ideas of Ayn Rand, creatively popularized by The Atlas Society, invite young people on a journey to moral adulthood in which they come to see themselves as up to facing life’s challenges and opportunities—by embracing reason, integrity, productivity, achievement, and freedom. If we are successful, we will not prepare the road for the child but will prepare the young adult for any road.
Will you join our efforts to invite young people on a journey to moral adulthood?
These are the young people to whom Michael Saylor appealed in his salient remarks at our 2022 gala: “You don’t want to be martyrs; you want to be winners.” A nation of winners, not whiners, is the country’s—and the world’s—best hope for a peaceful and flourishing future. With your help, we will not only fight for and work toward that future, but we will also live in that future today. We are ever so grateful for your support for the cause!
With gratitude and determination,
P.S. The Atlas Society is building the next generation of ambitious young people making their way toward adult independence by using the ideas of Ayn Rand to promote the values of reason, productivity, entrepreneurship, and more. Your year-end gift today will be MATCHED dollar-fordollar by our board of trustees …
• All NEW Donor Gifts Matched!
• All LAPSED Donor Gifts Matched!
• For all current donors, any increase over your 2021 support will also be matched!
P.P.S. Your timely and tax-deductible contribution is a direct investment in the future of this nation. We must ensure the next generation has access to the life-changing philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom. To make a gift today please use the enclosed reply form—or donate online through our secure portal at atlassociety.org/donate. Thank you for your time and support.