The Politically Incorrect Show - 20/12/2000

[Music - Die Fledermaus]

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Wednesday December 20, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd., the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit, & excellence, against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

On Friday December 24 last year, just minutes before what was to have been the last Politically Incorrect Show of 1999, I was whisked away to hospital, where I spent Christmas in the coronary care unit. Ugh!! My editorial for that day went undelivered. Now I'm not superstitious, but just on the off-chance of the same thing happening THIS Friday, when I was thinking of resurrecting that editorial, I'm going to read it today. If I get struck down while doing so, you'll know there's a God after all!

And so another Christmas is upon us. Yesterday I said it was time the human race put aside childish things, Christianity included, & came of age. What, then, does an atheist like myself do at Christmas? Say "Bah, humbug!" & refuse to participate in its festivities? Not at all! The best answer to this was given by my favourite atheist, Ayn Rand:

"The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion; it is good will toward men, a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be a part, but it is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion. The charming aspect of Christmas is that it expresses good will in a cheerful, benevolent, NON-SACRIFICIAL way. One says, 'Merry Christmas,' not 'Weep & repent!' And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form - by giving presents to one's friends or by sending them cards in token of remembrance. "The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has become commercialised. The gift-buying is good for business & good for the country's economy; but more importantly in this context it stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores & other institutions - the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colours - provide the city with a spectacular display which only 'commercial greed' could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle."

Amen, Ayn!

And so in the secular spirit of Christmas I would like to thank all of you, friend & foe alike, who have participated in the Politically Incorrect Show this year - thank you for your support, your opposition, your encouragement, your criticism. Where my foes are concerned, I want to leave you with one thought to mull over during the holiday period. My philosophy demands nothing of you, except that you leave me alone; yours, however, demands of me whatever you feel like claiming, to be extracted from me by force by the government acting on your behalf, in exchange for your vote. This is the significance of Ayn Rand's reference to NON-SACRIFICIAL benevolence - there can be no other kind. It is bloodied corpses, not benevolence, that are found on the sacrificial altars of your collectivist philosophies. Your beliefs lead to Ian Mutton; mine to universally VOLUNTARY human interaction & collaboration. Is it ridiculous, utopian, heartless, uncompassionate, to hope for the removal of coercion from human affairs? Tout your "social" schemes for the "common good" by all means; only put the gun away when it comes to implementing them - some people may not wish to participate!

So, my foes, can we draw up this pact for the New Year - that we will continue to disagree, in the spirit of Radio Pacific & "the power of free speech," as to the type of society we want, but that we will both renounce the imposition of our ideals by government force? Do we have a deal? Easy for me - I don't have to change a thing. You, however, may experience some withdrawal symptoms. But give it a go. You have nothing to lose but your addiction to compulsion; you have your self-respect to win. To friend & foe alike, Merry Christmas & a happy, prosperous & FREE New Year!

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