In a lecture co-sponsored by UCLA L.O.G.I.C. and Bruins for
Israel, Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute,
discussed the problem presented by what he sees to be Islamic
totalitarian regimes ““ and suggested a drastic way of
defeating them.
Brook said Islamic totalitarian states pose a severe threat to
the security of the United States and other Western nations and
suggested that a way to defeat these regimes is to kill up to
hundreds of thousands of their supporters. He said only a
resurgence in the pride for Western civilization can help the West
defeat those Islamic states.
Monday night’s lecture was part of a series of events,
titled “The Western Culture Series,” put on by
L.O.G.I.C., which stands for liberty, objectivity, individualism,
greed and capitalism. The series explores philosophical and
intellectual ideas of Western cultures.
Brook’s speech dealt with why Western nations come into
conflict with totalitarian states, which is rooted in their
differing views on the value of life and individualism. Brook said
the difference between the two is that while the West values
individualism and freedom, totalitarian regimes do not.
Other events of the Western Culture Series focus on ideas, such
as religion versus morality and individual choice.
At the event, Brook questioned the motivation of the terrorists
responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
The root of terrorists’ ability to conduct such attacks is
in their this willingness to destroy their own lives in order to
kill others, which comes from the ideology behind Islamic
totalitarianism. This ideology, which blends religion and politics,
dominates every aspect of its followers’ lives and is the
enemy of the United States and the rest of the Western world, Brook
said.
He said these regimes are strengthened by U.S. policy in the
Middle East, which tries to bring democracy into the region. These
democratic elections are letting Islamic nations elect extremists
and terrorists to power. He used Hamas’ victory in the
Palestinian election earlier this year as an example of this
tendency, referring to Hamas as an Islamic totalitarian
organization.
Brook said that since September 11, 2001, extremism and
totalitarianism have been increasing, not decreasing, and Iran has
become a model for an Islamic state under Islamic law for other
states to follow.
Some students in the lecture agreed strongly with the
speech.
“I wish more people would come to hear people willing to
stand up for what is good and what is right,” said Gary
Hagins, secretary of L.O.G.I.C.
Brook said the increase in extremist activities throughout the
Islamic world is due to a continued moral weakening in the U.S.
“What challenges us is our own moral weakness,”
which are multiculturalism and moral relativism, Brook said.
The solution is for the U.S. and the West to find a philosophy
that embraces their moral good, which are the ideas of Ayn Rand, an
author and founder of objectivism, Brook said. Objectivist
philosophy promotes objective reality, rationality, self-interest
and capitalism.
The self-interest tenet of objectivism advocates that
one’s own life is worth defending by any means necessary,
which would allow the United States to justify defeating Islamic
totalitarianism by killing a large number of its supporters,
according to Brook.
He added that the killing would shrink popular support for
extremist ideas to a small minority of the population, as opposed
to the 40 percent Brook says are supporting the regimes now.
Not everyone in the audience agreed with Brook’s idea of
mass military action.
“(Brook) said we are fighting their beliefs, and I
don’t think it is possible to get rid of people’s
beliefs by military action,” said Farnaz Califi, who works
for the Los Angeles Times.