primarily ethnic: if one thinks his ancestors were good, he will supposedly feel good about himself; if he thinks his ancestors were bad, he will supposedly feel self-loathing. But it doesn't work; the achievements or failures of one's ancestors are monumentally irrelevant to one's actual worth as a person. Only the lack of a sense of self leads one to look to others to provide what passes for a sense of identity. Neither the deeds nor misdeeds of others are his own; he can take neither credit nor blame for what someone else chose to do. There are no racial achievements or racial failures, only individual achievements and individual failures. One cannot inherit moral worth or moral vice. "Self-esteem through others" is a self-contradiction.Thus the sham of "preserving one's heritage" as a rational value. Thus the cruel hoax of "multicultural education" as an antidote to racism: it will continue to create even more racism. As Ayn Rand observed in "Global Balkanization" (The Voice of Reason), "the advocacy of 'ethnicity' means racism plus tradition, i.e., racism plus conformity. There is no surer way to infect mankind with hatred--brute, blind, virulent hatred--than by splitting it into ethnic groups or tribes."The immigrants who built this country in the 18th and 19th centuries came here not to wallow in "ethnic pride" nor to repeat mindlessly the ways of their ancestors. They embraced the essence of Western civilization. They were "at least implicitly" individualists.Individualism is the only alternative to the racism of political correctness. We must recognize that everyone is a sovereign entity, with the power of choice and independent judgment. The values of self-esteem and Western civilization should be proudly proclaimed....
