The longer I live, the more I think Ayn Rand was onto something with her objectivist theories about human nature. (Don’t worry, I’m not trundling down the dead end that is Politics Road – not far, anyway). Her views seem especially prescient in the context of modern first-world countries. Pre-war generations had no choice but to consider the plight or feelings of others, because there was every chance they, too, would find themselves in a situation where they needed a helping hand. Nowadays, the problems of day-to-day existence have been solved and individuals are free to focus on what their wants rather than their needs.
This objectivist attitude has been especially pernicious to creative endeavour. No matter whether it is music, film, literature or some combination of the three, we now have an entire generation of adults who believe they are entitled to it for free.
When the rock band Metallica took Napster to court in 1999 for breach of copyright, there was a perverse groundswell of anger. This was justified in any number of ways: Metallica has already made millions of dollars, so what’s their problem; this is no different to the bootleg ‘tape swapping’ prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s; tough luck, you money-grubbing pricks, welcome to the socialistic new world order wrought by the internet.
These explanations were all self-serving fertiliser, of course. The truth was Metallica was just trying to pour salt on the biggest leech that had affixed itself to their collective leg. That their actions made them pariahs would have been appalling to Rand, I think. It certainly was to me.
An e-book or an album or a television series might not be built in a factory, but it is nevertheless a product. Someone devoted a huge lump of his or her time and talent to making it. The analogy, to my mind, is simple. If you wouldn’t break into a showroom and steal a car, then you shouldn’t illegally download a movie or novel. Anything else is just obfuscation or making a mealy-mouthed excuse for immoral behaviour.
When creativity becomes devalued, then the quality of what it produces will suffer. It’s no different to flooding any other market with cheap labour or materials – the true craftsmen and artisans will either go broke or give up because it’s not worth their time. Can that be healthy for society?