The video game
BioShock appears to be the
game of the moment, praised for its stunning visual look and innovative
play. From the clips I have seen, it is, indeed, impressive to look at.
As for wending one’s way through the action, that I cannot speak to. I
don’t own any system currently compatible with the game. Given what I
have read about its origins, I’m not sure I care to send money to its
creators.
Many of the online stories discussing the game mention, in greater or lesser detail, the relationship between the world of
BioShock (created by Ken Levine) and Ayn Rand’s novel,
Atlas Shrugged
(coincidentally celebrating its 50th anniversary this Fall). Such
connections are what first peaked my interest. Sadly, my expectations
for something useful in promoting freedom appear to be dashed.
I have looked at a number of articles about the game and interviews
with Ken Levine. Rather than being a defender of freedom, however, he
is one of those myriad people who once admired
Atlas yet
somehow came away failing to understand the core of its soul and the
ideals it seeks to promote. Mere ignorance hardly captures what
characterizes such readers.
Willful ignorance would seem to more closely describe cases of otherwise intelligent people reading, maybe even initially lauding,
Atlas then later coming to characterize its meaning and implications in a way
diametrically opposed to
what it really said. (For example, I believe the former First Lady now
running for the Demican nomination — sorry, I hate even using her name
— read
Atlas in her younger days.)
(I’m reminded of the woman who questioned Rand during one of her Phil
Donohue interviews. She said something to the effect that she had once
liked Rand’s work but had now, in essence, “outgrown” the ideas Rand
expressed. Some have castigated Rand for her angry response. Though I
may or may not have reacted similarly in those circumstances, I don’t
fault Rand for being annoyed. The Donohue show was a stage for Rand to
explain her philosophy. It was not supposed to be a forum for a
debate...especially not when one’s miniscule “opponent” clearly implied
that only
immature readers would be taken in by the “false” ideas of Objectivism.)
Now, if people read
Atlas and then conclude that they prefer
collectivism and irrationality and slavery to individualism and reason
and freedom, then, hey, at least they’re being honest. But the vast
majority of such people I have read or heard grossly and deliberately
misrepresent what Rand stood for and what her novels portrayed.
(I say “deliberately” because Rand’s writing is never as obtuse or
convoluted as is that of most writers favored by the irrational
collectivists of the world. One would have to be an intellectually dull
person, indeed, to miss her points so badly. Those most vehemently
engaged in
ad hominem attacks on Rand ignore what she actually wrote, substitute their own sick versions, then rail against the nonexistent.)
Whether such retreats from reason and capitalism and freedom are the
result of fear or jealousy or idiocy is really unimportant. What is
important is to challenge these small creatures and their sanctimonious
lies.
Levine says he is a capitalist and politically someone “in the middle” (See one article
here.)
He says that Objectivism is a philosophy inapplicable to “real people”
even as he fails to understand that fictional characters — especially
Rand’s — should not be taken as “real people.” They are concretizations
of
ideals, a concept Levine seemingly fails to grasp. He also
erroneously believes people attempting to follow “ideologies” neglect
to include in their decisions the possibility that things can get
“screwed up.” Indeed, he ultimately dismisses Rand as “an ideologue.” (
Here.)
Levine properly says that he wants a user of his game to realize he
should “think for [him]self” and that “Rand would be very comfortable
with” the idea that we “have [our] own reason” and that “All human
systems are fallible.” But in the same breath he says that belief in
“something” being “absolutely true” is untenable.
Well, Levine seems to be one of those muddled capitalists Rand
frequently encountered who unsuccessfully attempted both to extol
freedom and to limit it. A mixed bag, to say the least. Indeed, he said
here, for
example, that “When it comes to philosophy, I go for the
breakfast-buffet approach...a little bit of this, a little bit of
that.” No wonder his views are a mishmash of self-contradictory bits
and pieces. Principles? Gee, what are those?
But the virulent anti-Rand, anti-freedom, anti-capitalism,
anti-individualism, anti-reason stances of others who have commented on
this game are blatantly obvious. Many of these statists slather at the
appearance of a game they see as attacking Rand and what she stood for.
A particularly nasty example appeared in the online
Boston Globe (see
here). This “Hiawatha Bray” hardly pulls his (or her?) punches.
This benighted individual agrees with such idiots as Whittaker Chamber
who claimed that Rand promoted dictatorship and mass murder via gas
chambers. Bray ignorantly equates “total freedom” with a complete lack
of restraints, either personal or institutional, an idea that would
have been abhorrent to Rand. Bray declares that “at the core of
Atlas Shrugged” lies a “bitter, world-hating fanaticism.”
But enough of such poisonous claptrap. Bray and her ilk are beyond
freedom and beyond reach by evidence or reason. They don’t possess the
integrity to present Rand’s ideas honestly or to promote openly their
vision for a world where “freedom” is a dirty word.
If Levine and his developers had chosen to present
BioShock as a world gone awry when people
failed
to follow proper principles (as Rand and her supporters did in the wake
of the Branden fiasco), I would be here championing it.
Instead, Levine and those applauding
BioShock while seeking the obliteration of reason and individualism present us a world where ruin
necessarily follows from adherence to the kinds of ideas Rand presented in
Atlas Shrugged.
It is this complete and utter fantasy that is truly shocking and
awe-inspiring in the breadth of its distortions and its lies.
Don’t reward such nonsense.
(from
Don't Get Me Started!, 8-30-07)
