 in the culture, but I think even among people who read Ayn Rand, it continues to be confusion about what altruism actually means. What is at the core of altruism? So what is altruism? Why are we so against altruism? They're definitely true. There's confusion about what altruism means exactly as there is confusion about what selfishness means. Now the reason I say altruism, I call it the tyranny of need is because if you look at it and ask yourself what altruism actually demands of us, it doesn't say be kind to your neighbor, give him some help if his apartment burns down or he's in an accident. What it tells you is that his life is more important than yours. You must subordinate your needs to his. If you want to be moral, the way that's measured, the only way that that's measured is by how willing you are to sacrifice for the sake of someone else. How willing are you to subordinate your needs and place someone else's above it? The heroes, the ideals, the paragons of altruism are people like Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer and why? They're praised because they are selfless because they don't care about their own happiness, their own welfare, their own money, their own needs. They are effacing their existence and instead they live to serve others. They are a servant to anybody in need. That to me is a terribly unjust and destructive way of living and that is what altruism actually demands of you. It demands that you live to serve others. Some people will say, but Mother Teresa wanted to do this. This was in her interests because, I don't know, made her feel good or this was her desire. These were her values. Well, first of all, I don't think that's possible. I think the whole point of altruism is if something benefits you, if you're going to get pleasure from something, give it up. It's wrong. You'll be motivated by something, by selfishness, which is an immoral premise. Altruism says if you're doing it for your benefit, that's bad. If you're doing it for someone else's benefit, at your expense, that is, it's a sacrifice, then it's good. Now, if Mother Teresa actually got real pleasure out of helping the poor, which is, she didn't. And if you read what she wrote, she'll tell you how miserable and depressed and the suffering she went through, which is what altruism demands. It demands that you suffer. But even let's say, hypothetically, if you find someone who takes pleasure in being an altruist, that is not an altruist. Then you're saying, I'm helping my neighbor because it really gives me pleasure. It makes me happy. Makes me feel wonderful. Well, that's selfish. So don't try to twist altruism and somehow make it compatible with your benefit. Altruism says the highest virtue is self-sacrifice, which means give up yourself, not enjoy yourself, not benefit yourself, give up yourself, sacrifice simply because you have something that somebody else lacks. That's what altruism demands. And indeed, even on egoists, there would be some people who made a career out of, I don't know, social services or helping other people or doing things like that. It's not an illegitimate career to have if you truly enjoy it and if you truly see value in it. Yes, but it's a contradiction to say at root, you gain pleasure from being an altruist. It's like saying, my happiness, my happiness consists in giving up my happiness. That's what makes me happy. Now that's absurd. The point of rational self-interest is to hold your life and your happiness as values and to pursue it and to do what is necessary to achieve it as opposed as opposed to the idea of altruism which says don't hold your life as the standard of value, don't hold your welfare as a moral good. That's an immoral goal. Give it up, don't be selfish, be selfless. So there's no way to make these two somehow compatible. They are two opposite antithetical philosophies of ethics. Thank you for listening or watching The Iran Book Show. If you'd like to support the show, we make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening, you get value from watching. Show your appreciation. You can do that by going to iranbrookshow.com slash support by going to Patreon, subscribe star, locals, and just making an appropriate contribution on any one of those channels. Also, if you'd like to see The Iran Book Show grow, please consider sharing our content and of course, subscribe. Press that little bell button right down there on YouTube so that you get an announcement when we go live. And for those of you who are already subscribers and those of you who are already supporters of the show, thank you. I very much appreciate it.