Yaron Brook

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yaron Brook
Born May 23, 1961 (age 52)
Israel
Occupation Ayn Rand Institute

Yaron Brook (Hebrew: ירון ברוק‎; born May 23, 1961[1]) is an Israeli-born American entrepreneur, philosopher, and academic, who currently serves as the president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, a non-profit organization in Irvine, California that promotes the novels of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism.

Biography

Yaron Brook was born on May 23, 1961 in Israel and raised there as well. His parents were Jewish socialists who were originally from South Africa. A friend lent him a copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged when he was sixteen, and he eventually embraced Objectivism.[2] At the age of 18 he was drafted into the Israeli Army. He served for three years (1979–1982), and was a First Sergeant in Israeli military intelligence. Once out of the army, he attended college at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology located in Haifa, and in 1986 he received his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering.[3]

In 1987, Brook moved to the United States to study at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he received his MBA in 1989 and his PhD in Finance in 1994. He was subsequently hired to teach Finance at Santa Clara University in California, where he was an assistant professor for seven years. He was a teacher and developed a class on "Finance and Ethics."[4] In 1998 Brook (with Robert Hendershott) started an investment consulting business called BH Equity Research, located in San Jose, California. He is currently a managing partner of that firm.[5]

Ayn Rand Institute

Becoming an associate of leading Objectivists such as philosopher Leonard Peikoff, Brook co-founded Lyceum International in 1994, a company that organized Objectivist conferences and offered distance-learning courses.[6] In 2000, he left Santa Clara University to succeed Michael Berliner as president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, which was then located in Marina del Rey, California. The Institute moved to Irvine, California in 2002.[7]

Objectivist movement
A statue of a muscular man holding a hollow globe on his shoulders. A skyscraper towers above the statue in the background.
  • Philosophy portal

Brook's philosophical activism includes teaching and public lecturing at ARI-sponsored events and conferences held predominantly in North America, speaking and debating at numerous American universities, delivering seminars for businesses and corporations in the United States and abroad, and writing opinion editorials for leading newspapers and websites.

Brook is a columnist for Forbes.com[8] and a contributing editor of The Objective Standard. He speaks at universities, corporations, and professional and community groups across America, addressing a wide range of current events and philosophical issues from an Objectivist perspective. He is a frequent radio guest on The Thom Hartmann Program, which is carried by the Air America Radio network,[9] as well as a weekly guest on the Fox Business Network.[10] He is a frequent guest on The Fox News Channel,[11] on programs such as the Glenn Beck Program, and on CNBC programs such as On the Money[12] and Morning Call.[13] He has been interviewed for his expertise on the Middle East, foreign policy, economics and business ethics.[3] Brook's writings and interviews have also appeared on Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit.[14]

Views and opinions

Rational selfishness

As an Objectivist, Brook promotes the philosophical principles advocated by Ayn Rand, in particular her philosophy of "enlightened," or rational selfishness as a moral virtue (a position also known as rational egoism). In addition to teaching classes on her view of egoism at the Ayn Rand Institute and as a guest lecturer at Brown University, Brook has also defended the egoist position in a 2006 debate against former U.S. Senator Robert Krueger at Texas State University, San Marcos.

Foreign policy and war

American foreign policy

Brook has gained much attention for his application of Objectivist moral philosophy to the question of American foreign policy in the Middle East.

He advocates an American foreign policy of rational self-interest that would serve only to protect the rights of Americans (as opposed to any form of government monetary aid, or state-building, or spreading democracy).[15]

The war against Islamic totalitarianism

Brook claims that the Islamic terrorists initiated a war against the West because they hate the West's culture, wealth, love of life, and global influence.[16] This is opposed to the ideas that Islamic terrorists attack the West because they are poor, or because the West supports Israel, or any other reason.[17]

They [Islamic terrorists] don't hate us because we support Israel, they hate Israel because they look like us[18]

Brook claims that the West isn't at war with terrorism, but the ideology of Islamic totalitarianism. He repeatedly says that just like in World War II, America wasn't at war against Japanese Kamikaze pilots or German tanks, but the ideas of Nazism and Japanese Imperialism.[19][20]

Brook claims that Islamic totalitarians are Muslims who wish to dictate every part of life from the teachings of Islam, taken to its logical extreme.[20] He believes Islamic totalitarians want to organize their governments according to Islam, and that they wish to spread a global Islamic government across the world, sometimes using legitimate means, but mainly by using physical force, i.e. terrorism.[20] Brook claims that the Islamic totalitarians repeatedly express this, openly.

...it is a movement that believes in conquest...Islam should rule every aspect of one's life...they don't believe in separation of religion and state...and those who disagree are second class citizens or worthy of death, they want an empire in middle east, but their goal ultimately is world domination, and they state this. They are never satisfied with oppressing their own people or the people around them, they want world domination.[20]

The morality of war

Brook has done a fair amount of work to formulate a unique morality of war[21][22] (but a morality originated by Ayn Rand[23] and also advocated by other Objectivists like Leonard Peikoff,[24] Onkar Ghate,[25] and Craig Biddle).[26]

Brook claims that when America goes to war, it should only be to protect the rights of its people, and the government must do everything in its power to end the threat to its citizens, as soon as possible, by using overwhelming military force (or the threat of force).[21] If torturing enemy POWs and purposely targeting civilian population centers will end a war against American citizens, Brook is for it. The specific goal of this total war would be to crush the will of the people who started the war against the United States. After the government of the enemy country is destroyed, the United States should leave unless there is a special circumstance in which the people of the defeated country are realistically willing to adopt Western-style governments.[27]

In his article "'Just War Theory' vs. American Self-Defense," co-authored with Alex Epstein in The Objective Standard, Brook writes:

Without physical and spiritual support by these states, the Islamic Totalitarian cause would be a hopeless, discredited one, with few if any willing to kill in its name. Thus, the first order of business in a proper response to 9/11 would have been to end state support of Islamic Totalitarianism—including ending the Iranian regime that is its fatherland.[28]

Brook further argues that these Islamic states must be severely attacked in order to crush their will to engage in and support terrorism.

The US has been attacked first thus it has the moral right to fight Islamism. The sole moral duty of the United States is to defend its citizens against its enemies by all means, even with the use of the atom bomb if necessary.[29]
What specific military actions would have been required post-9/11 to end state support of Islamic Totalitarianism is a question for specialists in military strategy, but even a cursory look at history can tell us one thing for sure: It would have required the willingness to take devastating military action against enemy regimes—to oust their leaders and prominent supporters, to make examples of certain regimes or cities in order to win the surrender of others, and to inflict suffering on complicit civilian populations, who enable terrorist-supporting regimes to remain in power.[21]

From the beginning of the War on Terrorism, Brook has argued that Iran should be the primary target of U.S. retaliation for Sept. 11, secondary targets being Saudi Arabia and Syria.[15]

He is for waging war on Islamic totalitarian states, but he believes that Bush’s "Forward Strategy of Freedom" is altruistic, self-defeating, and in opposition to America’s national self-interest.[30]

In his 2006 speech "Democracy vs. Victory: Why the 'Forward Strategy of Freedom' Had to Fail"[31] given at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston he said:

Washington commanded the military to tip-toe around Iraq. Troops were coached in all manner of cultural sensitivity training, so they would not offend the customs of the locals. The welfare of Iraqis was placed above the lives of our soldiers, who were put in the line of fire but prevented from using all the necessary force necessary to win. U.S. troops died as a result.

Washington treats the lives of our military personnel as expendable. Their blood is spilled for the sake of serving Iraqis, a people overwhelmingly hostile to America.

Bush had committed America to this selfless mission in the run-up to the war.

On December 17, 2004, Yaron Brook appeared on O’Reilly Factor, Impact Segment, "Aftermath of Fallujah activities", the context was that an embedded journalist had reported about the shooting of previously disarmed Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah. During this interview he said:

I'm suggesting that we start bringing this war to the civilians, the consequences of this war, to the civilians who are harboring and helping and supporting the insurgents in Fallujah and other places. ... I would like to see the United States turn Fallujah into dust, and tell the Iraqis: If you’re going to continue to support the insurgents you will not have homes, you will not have schools, you will not have mosques ...

Brook argued that if "flattening Fallujah to end the Iraqi insurgency will save American lives, to refrain from [doing so] is morally evil."[32]

Israel

Brook considers Israel to be a morally good nation because its Western-style government protects the rights of its citizens, Arab and Jewish alike, vastly more than neighboring countries.[33][34] Brook is highly critical of Zionism, arguing that "Zionism fused a valid concern - self-preservation amid a storm of hostility - with a toxic premise - ethnically based collectivism and religion".[35]

Brook advocates morally (but not necessarily financially) supporting Israel, which he sees as a Western ally against Islamic terrorism.[36]

Brook strongly disagrees with many aspects of Israel's policies, including its collectivist and religious influences, and its 'self-sacrificial' foreign policy of giving its enemies land, money, and other goods.[33][37]

Capitalism and business

Brook is also an outspoken proponent of laissez-faire capitalism. In appearances on CNBC[38] and in several articles[39] and speeches, he has defended the rights of corporations and businessmen and upheld the virtues of capitalism. In a January 7, 2007 editorial in USA Today, he defends multi-million dollar CEO pay packages against the attempt by government to regulate them.[40] In a 2010 interview Brook called the efforts of Democrats to raise taxes on multi-millionaires "totally immoral." He has criticized President Bush for signing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which regulates corporate accounting practices.[41] And he has argued that antitrust laws are "unjust and make no sense ethically or economically."[42]

Environment and climate change

Brook has stated that he does not believe regulation has any role to play in protecting the environment and believes human-originated climate change to be a doomsday scenario propagated by environmentalists. He has indicated that as an ideological iteration it goes back decades, and that global warming is another in a line of failed scare stories, with preferential funding given to researchers promoting it. Drawing a comparison between the role played by low quality housing and infrastructure in the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the contrasting resilience of more developed countries, he suggests the solution to supposed environmental changes is laissez-faire capitalism and the resultant rise in standard of living.[43]

Published works

References

  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/ybrook/info
  2. ↑ http://www.ocregister.com/news/brook-rand-institute-1884783-self-money
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Yaron Brook". Ayn Rand Institute. Retrieved 2009-08-18. 
  4. ↑ http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5151&news_iv_ctrl=1181
  5. ↑ BH Equity Research
  6. ↑ http://www.wju.edu/academics/bus/iscm/brook.asp
  7. ↑ Letran, Vivian (June 7, 2002). "Ayn Rand Institute to Move to Orange County". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-08-18. 
  8. ↑ Forbes http://search.forbes.com/search/colArchiveSearch?aname=Yaron+Brook&author=yaron+and+brook |url= missing title (help). 
  9. ↑ "Interviews on The Thom Hartmann Program". Ayn Rand Institute. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  10. ↑ YouTube - Fox Business News Mortgage Reform Commentary
  11. ↑ YouTube - Fox Business News: Peter Schiff plugs in Ron Paul
  12. ↑ Search Results - CNBC.com
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/73624/
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_1yrlater
  16. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVz4hsx0uns
  17. ↑ http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_1yrlater Lecture from 2002: 9/11—One Year Later: Why America Is Losing the War!
  18. ↑ 9/11—One Year Later: Why America Is Losing the War! Q and A http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_1yrlater
  19. ↑ http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184168546756&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZVNYH5aR9E
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2006-spring/just-war-theory.asp
  22. ↑ http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_moralityofwar
  23. ↑ http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5138
  24. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoAWCwm-UXw
  25. ↑ http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6418&news_iv_ctrl=1021
  26. ↑ http://theobjectivestandard.com/blog/2006/10/reply-to-question-about-targeting-non.asp
  27. ↑ Democracy vs. Victory: Why the "Forward Strategy of Freedom" Had to Fail Question and Answer period http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_democracy
  28. ↑ "'Just War Theory' vs. American Self-Defense"
  29. ↑ http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4342
  30. ↑ http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-spring/forward-strategy-for-failure.asp
  31. ↑ http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=3228
  32. ↑ Harkinson, Josh. The Apostles of Ron Paul, Mother Jones (January/February 2008)
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ls_israel
  34. ↑ http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1674
  35. ↑ Arfa, Orit (July 12, 2007). "'You don't fight a tactic'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  36. ↑ http://freemarketmojo.com/?p=3522
  37. ↑ Brook, Yaron (June 23, 2002). "Israel Has A Moral Right To Its Life". Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  38. ↑ http://search.cnbc.com/main.do?keywords=yaron+brook&target=video&x=0&y=0
  39. ↑ Epstein, Alex; Brook, Yaron (October 22, 2002). "Paralyzing America's Producers". Ayn Rand Institute. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  40. ↑ Brook, Yaron (January 7, 2007). "Pay is company's prerogative". USA Today. p. 19A. 
  41. ↑ Brook, Yaron; Epstein, Alex (July 14, 2003). "The cost of the 'ethical' assault on honest businessmen". Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  42. ↑ "Capitalism and Business Ethics: Yaron Brook, Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute". Washingtonpost.com. July 19, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-02. 
  43. ↑ Yaron Brook - Q&A Part 2 

External links

Authority control
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.