The Fountainhead: Howard Roark Speech
As I reflect on the year that was 2007 I am reminded of wisdom from years back:
As you consider that great excerpt from “The Fountainhead” consider another character from the same book - “Ellsworth Toohey”:
Ellsworth Toohey seeks power to control men and does so under the auspices of “humanitarianism” and a false sense of selflessness. Toohey destroys greatness by exalting mediocrity. He lives to empty souls and fill that void with his own power. Through encouraging sacrifice, removing some form of a man’s desire, he hopes to be there to collect on that sacrifice, as he says on p. 666 “When there’s service, there’s someone being served.” He is the ‘benevolent dictator’ bent on making men subservient so he can control their destiny and “well- being”, effectively promoting the slave/master relationship that he extols as having existed throughout mankind (this is also noted by Roark in his courtroom speech at the end of the book). Toohey’s target in this conquest is man’s mind, and he sets out to muddle it by pitting men against men and establishing a sense of doubt in their being. He plots to destroy their ability to judge on their own, inciting them to think first of everything and everyone but themselves.
