Is Objectivism selfish?

Not in the sense it is usually used — Objectivists use the word selfish to mean rational concern for your own life, values, happiness, and future, and done in an integrated, rational manner.  Objectivists, including Rand, find childish selfishness despicable.  Rand used the term Rational Self-Interest.  Sadly, the left ignores this term and deliberately seeks to turn people away from objectivism by dishonestly calling it selfish.

Objectivism does not defend the crude version of selfishness: lying, cheating, exploiting, manipulating, using people, or grabbing whatever you want in the moment. That is not rational self-interest. That is short-range, destructive, and anti-life.

Objectivism rejects two false alternatives:

One is self-sacrifice — the idea that you are moral only when you give up your values for others.

The other is predation — the idea that pursuing your life gives you permission to violate others.

A rational person does neither.

He does not live as a sacrificial animal for other people’s demands, and he does not ask others to sacrifice themselves to him. He lives by reason, production, honesty, voluntary exchange, earned love, and self-respect.

So the honest answer is: Objectivism is rational self-interest. It says your life belongs to you. Your happiness matters. Your work matters. Your mind matters. Your values matter.

That is not a vice.

That is the moral foundation of a human life.

Rational self-interest makes one a benefit to society through their productivity.  Objectivists are effort-driven, focused on growth and refuse to sacrifice themselves to others through altruistic ethics.  They will help others through mentoring, and generosity if such giving is harmonious with their deepest inner values, and in this way, they are magnificent citizens.

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