Ireland needs a hero. Like superficial Superman, the recent economic bailout may have saved the day, but it hasn’t solved any deeper problem.  I’ve spent the last few weeks working ‘down south’ and its people are angry, worried and at a loss.  Maybe an Irish superhero is required?

News reporters and local bloggers alike have made the call recently for a just such a hero.  Unfortunately, the best they could come up with were ancient warriors or their modern comic-book equivalents.  Good for escapist daydreaming, bad for fiscal policy.

I have another suggestion.

His name is John Galt.

Who is John Galt?

The hero in a novel called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  He brings about the collapse of an already corrupt Western economy by persuading the world’s creative leaders – including inventors, artists and businessmen – to go on strike.  He fights against “parasites”, “looters” and “moochers” who demand the benefits of the heroes’ labour.

One writer in The Wall Street Journal put it like this:

“In Atlas Shrugged, Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?”

Rand’s heroes are interesting.  They aren’t crime-fighters or warriors.  They are entrepreneurs, engineers and architects.  These are skilled professionals who bridge the gap between theory and practice, ideas and action.  They have a vision of what they want to create and they bring it to pass.  On their own.  Without government subsidies; despite government interference.

Ireland needs what the rest of the world needs.  (1) Incredible individuals who raise themselves above the herd by their own creativity and resilience. They are the motor of any sustainable and growing economy.  (2) Everyone else to get out of their way.

If this hero remains the stuff of fantasy, then it will take more than a Superman to save us.

You know how I believe that comics are smart.  Well it seems that children’s films are too.  I happened across an article recently that asked the question of how you make a kids flick engaging for an adult audience too.  The answer?  You place ideas in it.  (Are you listening Hollywood?)

For instance, the excellent 2004 film The Incredibles. It ‘satirises the litigiousness of US society, as those saved by superheroes take legal action against them, forcing their saviours into an equivalent of the witness protection programme.’  Good so far.  But here’s the bit that grabbed my attention.

‘Adherents of the individualist thinker Ayn Rand analysed the movie through the prism of her philosophy, noting that the film appears to attack the oppressive egalitarianism that forces superheroes to disguise their powers.

‘In The Incredibles, the superhero mother tells her son: “Everyone’s special.”  He replies sotto voce: “Which is another way of saying no one is.”‘

Too true!  I’ve blogged about Ayn Rand before in an attempt to raise some interest in her work in Northern Ireland.  We’re a victim-orientated society in which the only race people want to win is the “I hurt more than you (therefore give me loads of cash)” sprint finals.

Truthfully, though, there’s always been a bit of a tension in my own worldview between two beliefs.  (1) Everyone has the potential for personal development and the right to claim respect.  (2)  Only some people put forth the effort to succeed in life, and therefore deserve to reap the rewards.  The rest (perhaps the majority) will content themselves with a existence of TV and tedium or ‘wine and whineing’.  Especially if they’re guys.

The first of these is egalitarian, socialist, lowest-common-denominator; the second, meritocratic, capitalist, elitist.  Question is, which is the more heroic?  I’ve argued before that everyone is born with a set of intelligences but how you develop them is your responsibility and no-one else.

So heroes aren’t born out of wealth, education or any other privilege.  They are those who have raised themselves above the ordinary by their own persistence and resilience.  That is what makes them incredible, invincible, heroic.  As the lady said:

“Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”

Image credit: audi_insperation.

When you think of a hero, what sort of person comes to mind?  Soldiers and warriors?  Freedom-fighters and life-savers?  Possibly the odd scientist or artist?

What if I said that an entrepreneur is a hero?   What if I claimed that business is a heroic activity?

This idea isn’t new to me but it might be new to many people in the UK and Ireland, so I thought I should introduce it.  Why?  Because the popular sense is that we’re all sleazy fat-cats, dodgy Del Boy spivs, or brash loadsamoney yuppies.  We’re portrayed as selfish and shallow.  We contrast unfavourably with those real heroes in the public sector, who (so the story goes) sacrifice vast pay-cheques in order to serve the greater good.

The Russian-born American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand isn’t a household name here.  But her novels have sold millions and influenced millions all over the world.  Check Amazon and you’ll find more than fifteen hundred reviews for her main work Atlas Shrugged.

Funny thing is, the main protagonists in her stories are industrialists, innovators, and even bankers!  They are portrayed as heroic figures – men and women – who stand against a pseudo-benevolent but totalitarian state that ‘loots’ the profit and regard they are due for what they have created from nothing.  In Atlas Shrugged, these heroes go in strike and let the world of the ‘parasites’ collapse!

Here’s how Rand described her own point of view:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

According to Rand, the individual “must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.”

Rand defended liassez-faire capitalism, a minimal state,  and had an almost reverential view of the value of money.

I hope I’ve stimulated your interest.  And your pride.  For remember - business is a work fit for heroes!

Image credit: Eneas.