This is a much longer version of the above. (So please do not read it if you feel your time would be more profitably employed elsewhere). I DO think this is all relevant to an understanding of the pseudo-senatorial circle-jerk and neo-Kantian psycho-drama that is being played out in that mirror of the public's "self-awareness": a federal case strung together out of post-factual therapy and subjectively determined "truth." We're entering the age of reality by majority whim. No, we're beyond that. We are entering the age of perception as original sin and mind-destroying drugs prescribed by law. We are entering "The Lathe of Heaven."

Child Protective Services forever destroyed my family, my childhood and my trust for anyone in a position of authority (Ayn Rand really had to earn it and did -- overwhelmingly).

That evil agency was thoroughly rooted in Kantian duty and presumable guilt (and I assume now, as trend-setter, is rooted in full-blown post-modernism and utterly self-negating egalitarianism under a facade of self-righteous Platonic charity perhaps).

And hence they are far worse on the culture and psychology than the Spanish Inquisition -- which Aquinas rationalized as necessary to good order on earth as unhesitatingly as he rationalized the seeming compatibility of the idea of a God creating good order with a this-worldly science and logic corresponding with it (which implies, really, a mere personification or reification of the law of identity limited to the honorary task of "law-giver," as was the pattern of Adam being assigned to the honorary task of "name-giver" of the animals, perhaps implying also a similarly pre-scientific role for Eve in naming the plants).

The mythos keeps alive in the memory by word of mouth and repetition the unprecedented neolithic epoch when the inhabited earth was transformed into a garden, a home, and the consequences of the sudden loss of innocence and confidence when moral doubts were raised, a "knowledge" of good, that it is good, and evil, that it is evil caused questions, dissensions, recriminations and expulsion to the wilds or foothills beyond "the garden."

Reverting to being a nomad was seen as expulsion, a step back or away from one's inheritance. As a species, we've been trying to get right with nature (or nature's law-giver) ever since. Today, one must "get right with Galt" or what I call "the hero in your soul," whether you are male or female (assume Dagny goes on to teach and recite the great manifesto to her children, if in simplified form or as the relevant situation arises, you can switch the gender pronouns uniformly and it still makes perfect sense (only I would insist that "man" remains "man" as the generic term for all human beings).

BTW, Child Protective Services forever destroyed my family, my childhood and my trust for people in authority.

That evil agency is thoroughly Kantian, hence worse than the Spanish Inquisition which Aquinas rationalized as necessary to good order on earth as unhesitatingly as he rationalized the compatibility of the idea of a God creating good order with a this worldly science and logic corresponding to it (which implies, really, a mere personification or reification of the law of identity limited to the honorary task of "law-giver" as was Adam assigned to the honorary task of "name-giver" or scientist).

At that age I used to sneak the occasional shot of Rootbear Schnapps from my alcoholic foster parents (who would invariably assume the other, as I was never caught). And such rough-housing in the places I lived was the norm (short of anyone actually trying to rape anyone).

It's such a relief to finally confess that to someone, lol.

But yes, neither drugs nor alcohol should be encouraged on anyone, especially at so young an age. I imagine it must be getting harder and harder to be a teenage rebel as standards of "normalcy" plummet and "Everykid" is pressured to either gang up or get lost.