Rush talks about it often. He recently said that in many ways, people never mature beyond high school and that most people reach a point in their lives where they settle and the social fabric begins to mirror one that you might find in high school. That is, the problem is that people simply want to be liked and often compromise themselves in the hopes of being liked and being part of the club.
If you’re the decision-maker and an enterprise hinges by your decision and it alone, logical and rational choices are tough decisions, but easier to make than if you’re part of a decision-making process that requires input from a group. Now the illogical and irrational enters into the equation and you have to either persuade people to your way of thinking with logic and arguments (tougher still) or compromise the decision-making so that everyone remains “friends”, gets along, and the blame and rewards are shared.
Too, when you’re young, you’re usually not given the opportunity to make independent decisions. Or the ones you can make only affect yourself. Easier to be an Bbjectivist then. Then you start making a wider circle of friends, co-workers, family. Very, very tough to be an Objectivist (especially a declared one) when everyone else has their own ideas and ways about doing things. And then the peer pressure hits and you’re in high school again...
“You wanna be one of the cool kids, doncha?”
Good analysis, depressing that it means that the high school plays such a critical role in the lives of millions years after they become adults.
Organizational man must compromise and do things that are not always in the best interests of the organization. People do want to get along and smooth out relations.
I’ll admit, it is tough being a Conservative, having to argue with so many people all the time on points they never looked at objectively.