I heard a very intriguing interview on CBC Radio last week that brought to my attention the surprising audacity of modern video game developers, and media more generally. The discussion I heard centered around the less-than-subtle introduction of the philosophy of Ayn Rand into the game Bio-Shock 2.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, playwright, and philosopher whose indelible mark was made on the literary world in 1943 with publication of her novel The Fountainhead. Her best known work is Atlas Shrugged (1957). Through her novels, essays, and other writings, she consistently promulgated the philosophy she eventually called objecitivism. Undoubtedly due to her negative experiences in Russia in the years during and after the Russian Revolution, Rand unequivocally opposed any version of communism, socialism, or collectivism, and held the ethic of altruism in contempt, instead championing the supremacy of rational self-interest.
In the Bio-Shock franchise (1 and 2), we see a Randian uoptia based on her ego-centric philosophy. Now, I gleaned from the interview that Rand’s philosophy is not portrayed entirely positively, but it would appear that her philosophical option in the game seems more attractive and feasible than the altruistic variety.
As with most things, the truth lies not with the black or the white, but somewhere in the grey area. Certainly the evil of Stalinist communism and coerced collectivism and sacrifice under the watchful eye of the “big brother” government are written all over the last century. Equally apparent are the dangerous of unbridled self-interest and the anarchist “non-state.” However, our typical (post-)modern experience rarely encounters these two extremes — our battles are more subtle. And, to be fair, Rand isn’t a good-representative of the above-mentioned hard-left philosophy. Still, on some basic principles, Rand’s system of rational self-interest is at loggerheads with the vision of life that Christian Scriptures portray.
First and foremost, I believe Objectivism is predicated on an atheisitic (or at least agnostic or deistic) view of the world. And from this springs the huge issue of our relationship to one another and how we interact. Rand’s philosophy has room for love and helping others, but has no room for sacrifice or conceptions of the common good: for Rand, society is healthy so long as all people are allowed to rationally pursue their own self-interest. This should immediately throw up a red flag for us as Christians, whose whole ethical system is built on the great sacrifice of all –Christ on the cross, which compels us to crucify our own desires and serve others.
Again, what Rand and others are reacting to is a perverted form of Christian altruism wherein one is enslaved to the demands of others to the detriment of one’s own health and well-being. It is a system where you allow others to control you, and where individual identity and the power to make decisions is severely limited. But I am confident that God himself would reject this kind of twisted ethic. This is abuse, and it does not take into account the unique individuals that God has made each of us to be.
But let us never forget that the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament) is a collectivist book. Throughout, God is in the process of calling and forming and sanctifying a people (first the nation of Israel and then the Church) who exist to love and serve one another and then the world. God assuredly works in us as individuals, but it is within the context of the Christ-based faith community where lives are renewed and people are equipped to be Jesus to a hurting world. It is lie of the enemy that we do not need one another and ought not to submit to one another. Our ultimate purpose is not found in ourselves, but in the God whom we serve and in the work we do to bring about his kingdom on the earth. God does call us to make sacrifices on behalf of himself and others, and serving people in the way Christ served his disciples does not always appear to be in our own self-interest. Truly, we derive our meaning not from our own personal happiness or in the degree to which we can exercise our freedom, but rather in the character that Christ has created in us and the love he has for us.
I write this because it throws into stark relief the necessity of both being involved in our children’s media consumption, and to demonstrate the importance of being good “culture-watchers” — being conversant with the ideas that are out there (past and present) — and being ready to engage with them from a biblical base.
* Note that Rand’s synthesis is hardly new. It is a modern reworking and slight alteration of Utilitarianism as originally conceived by Jeremy Bentham and famously defended by John Stuart Mill in his aptly titled work Utilitarianism. But the idea of promoting and seeking after one’s own interests in preference to others’ has been around as long as humanity.
