Rapture and Republicans Part Two

In my last entry I talked about Rapture, the Objectivist dystopia unintentionally created by Andrew Ryan.  True, he didn't mean for it to be a dystopia, initially, but it ended up that way, due to Ryan's paranoia, and a multitude of other factors.  One of which was that Ryan intended it to be a utopia.

A utopia filled with like-minded people who would, with hard work, determination, and the sweat of their brows, make Rapture work.  Well, that was Ryan's vision of Rapture.  The vision of the people he brought to populate his city was vastly different.  Many of them felt they were above the meanial work that would keep the city running.  They were doctors, thinkers, artist, poets, captains of industry, and one was a criminal.  The society that was created, and was influenced by Ryan's recorded propaganda, was based on selfishness, self-interested, and self centeredness.  "What calamity has ever been caused by the words 'think of yourself''?" one recording asked.  None, unless you consider psychopaths and serial killers to be 'calamities'.

Oh, there were very few who grew food, but they were more interested in how much profit they could wring from the enterprise.  There were poor people in Rapture, but they were outnumbered by the upper classes, and were probably brought down for the sole reason of working for their "betters".  No charity was allowed, because Andrew Ryan considered altruism to be the root of all evil.  So we've got a city filled with selfish, self-centered people who believe they are the upper crust, high class, and above doing the work of a menial.  Therefor, the society was very top-heavy, and it lacked the support system of 'lower class' people that did the actual work. A society based on selfishness, top-heavy, with very little in the way of a support system, and throw in an addictive substance with no manner of oversight or regulation.  No wonder it collapsed.

Once again, I am finding unsettling parallels in the real world.  Politicians intent upon doing away with the Social Safety Net of Social Security, Medicare, and Welfare.  They tell their constituents that these programs are nothing but a drain on the National Budget.  Never mind using some of Ryan's words to say that nobody should be made to pay for the welfare of others.  Though they DO have charities to fall back upon, saying that charities would fill in where the social programs had been.  Then they turn around and do everything to make sure that the rich and powerful are able to keep their money, and corporations are able to keep more of their profits.  As if they wish to make a top-heavy society...  Or make the poor into easily exploitable slaves, what with the call for the deregulation of all industries, and the abolition of minimum wage.

The criminal in Rapture was happy that the society collapsed, and had a plan to kill his rival, Andrew Ryan, so he could rule over the ruins.  The problem with the politicians, should American society collapse, it will take THEM with it.