Jon Galt, Batman Begins, & Political Philosophy (moral, doom, moral)

[Radio Frequency X]

In Batman Begins, there is a John Galt-like organization called the League of Shadows. This organization's purpose is to ensure the destruction of cities that have embraced evil, to speed up the natural effects of evil so that the people will destroy themselves. In Atlas Shrugged, Jon Galt steals away all the Producers, and the country falls to ruin.

Is this kind of tactic moral? Is there a time when we should give up on people, lost in their own evil or ignorance? Is there a time when we should shrug, or speed up the destruction of civilizations.

[eudaimonia]

Originally Posted by Radio Frequency X

Is this kind of tactic moral? Is there a time when we should give up on people, lost in their own evil or ignorance? Is there a time when we should shrug, or speed up the destruction of civilizations.

In Atlas Shrugged, John Galt was left with no better alternative, and he didn't technically give up on people. His radio speech was an effort to get good people to wake up and form the foundation for a better society.

The big cultural problem he faced was that people had become so accustomed to taking advantage of the Producers, any attempt at a different approach was doomed to failure. The fall of civilization would merely have happened a few generations further on, and been much, much longer in duration. He took the best option available to him, which was a short collapse followed by a restoration.

(One may question how John Galt could have been so certain of these alternatives, but this set of alternatives is one of the premises of the storyline.)

BTW, in her Playboy interview, Ayn Rand was asked the question: "at what point is it appropriate to shrug"? Her reply was that it should only be done when there is a dictatorship, or very close to one, and especially if there was no freedom of speech. Once government censorship is imposed, there is little chance for reformation within the system. I'd say that's a good answer.


eudaimonia,

Mark