Uses and Misuses of Values

There are people who think that money is universally a good thing, and there are people who think that money is universally a bad thing. Neither is right. Money is how you make it and what you are using it for. If you are making money by computerizing the world, then you are doing a good thing. If you are making money by poisoning the oceans and the air, burning the rainforest, or selling people things that are bad for them, then you are not doing a good thing at all. Money is this: A tool. And tools are morally neutral. They are what you are using them for.

Anything that has any kind of appeal would see people using it both for right things and wrong things. One major source of confusion in recent decades has been about beauty. Some people decided that, because ignorant teenage school cultures and unscrupulous plastic surgeons use beauty for wrong, beauty as such is a bad thing. It is not. Beauty existed long before such things existed; it will continue existing long after they're gone. Beauty is something that has appeal to people. And anything that has appeal to people will see some people wanting to use it for wrong.

This also includes things that have moral appeal. While the idea of money as a tool is familiar to many, very few people see the same with values. And that is a major oversight.

One idea that has moral appeal is the value of altruism. We see this being used both for right ends and for wrong ends. Stalin used the value of altruism to impose a horrible dictatorship. The Freemasons and Medicins Sans Frontieres also appeal to altruism, and they are using it for much better things. One of Ayn Rand's biggest errors has been her equating altruism with its abuses by people like Stalin and Lenin. She obviously did not study Medicins Sans Frontieres. This organization is in no way corrupt or power-tripping. It consists of conscientious individuals who foreswore bigger salaries in order to cure people around the world.

Another such value is the value of responsibility. This likewise gets used both for right things and for wrong things. There are any number of people claiming belief in responsibility who are actually responsible. There are any number of others who aren't. If you define responsibility as having a huge house and driving a Hummer, you will be poisoning the oceans and the air and leaving the world a worse place than you have found it. You may genuinely think that you're being responsible; but you're not.

Patriotism is another value that can get used – and constantly does get used – both for right and for wrong. Honor, love – you name it. Any value can be used for right things and wrong things, as much as is the case for such things as money and beauty. We see this with religions – all of them. We see this with just about anything else that is there.

The solution is not to reject values any more than it is to demonize money or beauty. The solution is seeing where all such things can be used for wrong. This will be the case with things that carry physical appeal; it will also be the case with things that carry moral appeal. Beauty can be used for wrong; but that does not make beauty bad. Money can be used for wrong; but that does not make money bad. Same is the case with values. Stalin's misuse of altruism does not damn altruism, and Texas Oil's misuse of the concept of responsibility does not damn responsibility.

My daughter, who has always been very beautiful, does not deserve to be blamed for the actions of stupid school cheerleaders. Steven Jobs does not deserve to be blamed for the actions of Texas Oil. Medicins Sans Frontieres does not deserve to be blamed for the actions of Stalin. Eisenhower does not deserve to be blamed for the actions of Hitler. And contemporary Christians do not deserve to be blamed for the Inquisition or anything of that sort.

Anything that has any kind of appeal will see people wanting to use it for wrong. This, once again, is likewise the case with things that carry moral appeal. Anything human can be used for wrong. That does not make it as such a bad thing. Money, beauty and moral values all have legitimate appeal to people; and it then becomes the responsibility of the people to use these things right.