--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is said to civilized men who are to…" description: "\"“This is said to civilized men who are to venture into countries where sacred cows are fed, while children are left to starve - where female infants ar..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d3/ayn-rand-59_ayn-rand_this-is-said-to-civilized-men-who-are-to_106153.jpg" --- # This is said to civilized men who are to venture into… ![“This is said to civilized men who are to venture into countries where sacred cows are fed, while children are left to starve - where female infants are killed or abandoned by the roadside- where men go blind, medical help being forbidden by their religion - where women are mutilated, to insure…” quote by Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d3/ayn-rand-59_ayn-rand_this-is-said-to-civilized-men-who-are-to_106153.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d3/ayn-rand-59_ayn-rand_this-is-said-to-civilized-men-who-are-to_106153.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d3/ayn-rand-59_ayn-rand_this-is-said-to-civilized-men-who-are-to_106153.jpg) > ““This is said to civilized men who are to venture into countries where sacred cows are fed, while children are left to starve - where female infants are killed or abandoned by the roadside- where men go blind, medical help being forbidden by their religion - where women are mutilated, to insure their fidelity - where unspeakable tortures are ceremonially inflicted on prisoners - where cannibalism is practiced. Are these the ‘cultural riches’ which a Western man is to greet with ‘brotherly love’? Are these the ‘valuable elements’ which he is to admire and adopt? Are these the ‘fields’ in which he is not to regard himself as superior? And when he discovers entire populations rotting alive in such conditions, is he not to acknowledge, with a burning stab of pride - of pride and gratitude - the achievements of his nation and his culture, of the men who created them and left him a nobler heritage to carry forward?”” [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage critiques the hypocrisy of praising cultural “riches” while ignoring severe human rights abuses, questioning whether true admiration can coexist with moral blindness. **In simple terms:** Celebrating culture while ignoring suffering is hypocritical. Key Takeaway Moral blindness undermines cultural pride. Themes ethics cultural criticism human rights hypocrisy Mood critical somber Type philosophical political When to use this quote - tourism - foreign aid - media coverage - political rhetoric Key Concepts moral relativism cultural imperialism Practical Applications - promote ethical awareness - challenge selective admiration Questions to Reflect On - Can we separate art from the artist’s context? - How should societies confront their own atrocities? A Different Perspective Some argue that cultural achievements can be appreciated separately from societal flaws. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ayn-rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ayn-rand-2/) [Cannibalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cannibalism/) [Sacred cows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacred-cows/) ## Related quotes > [“Observe the nature of today’s alleged peace movements. Professing love and concern for the survival of mankind, they keep screaming that the nuclear-weapons race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/observe-the-nature-of-today-s-alleged-peace-movements-professing-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“A sin without volition is a slap at morality and an insolent contradiction in terms: that which is outside the possibility of choice is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-sin-without-volition-is-a-slap-at-morality-and-an-insolent/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/when-you-have-civilized-men-fighting-savages-you-support-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“I've wanted to want it. I should think it would be exciting to become a dissolute woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/i-ve-wanted-to-want-it-i-should-think-it-would-be-exciting-to-become/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“But, in fact, a person's sexual choice is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions. Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/but-in-fact-a-person-s-sexual-choice-is-the-result-and-sum-of-their/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [There are some good traditions in our culture, one of which is that men dance with women. Soon we will reach the stage where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niki-lauda/there-are-some-good-traditions-in-our-culture-one-of-which-is-that/) [Niki Lauda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niki-lauda/) > [I mean, who made up all the rules in the culture? Men-white male corporate society. So why wouldnt a woman want to rebel against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-gordon/i-mean-who-made-up-all-the-rules-in-the-culture-men-white-male/) [Kim Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-gordon/) > [The best political economy is the care and culture of men; for, in these crises, all are ruined except such as are proper individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-best-political-economy-is-the-care-and-culture-of-men-for-in/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Male aggression and lust are the energizing factors in culture. 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Western man has become a confessing animal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-most-defenseless-tenderness-and-the-bloodiest-of-powers-have-a/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More by Ayn Rand > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-watched-the-prairies-the-rivers-the-towns-slipping-past-at-an/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-was-reality-she-thought-this-sense-of-clear-outlines-of-purpose/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She moved her hand and let it rest against his. He did not withdraw his fingers and he did not pretend indifference. 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She thought: To find a feeling that would hold, as their sum, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-was-still-one-response-the-greatest-that-she-had-missed-she/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“We are fornicating in the sight of six billion people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-fornicating-in-the-sight-of-six-billion-people/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-was-fifteen-when-it-occurred-to-her-for-the-first-time-that-women/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Fransisco, you're some kind of very high nobility, aren't you?" He answered, "Not yet. The reason my family has lasted for such a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/fransisco-you-re-some-kind-of-very-high-nobility-aren-t-you-he/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/have-you-felt-it-too-have-you-seen-how-your-best-friends-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/every-coercive-monopoly-was-created-by-government-intervention-into/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [We are all brothers under the skin - and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-all-brothers-under-the-skin-and-i-for-one-would-be-willing-to/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Explore all 1,777 Ayn Rand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## More Ayn-rand quotes > [“Observe the nature of today’s alleged peace movements. Professing love and concern for the survival of mankind, they keep screaming that the nuclear-weapons race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/observe-the-nature-of-today-s-alleged-peace-movements-professing-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“True love is egoism à duex - egoism for two.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-kenner/true-love-is-egoism-duex-egoism-for-two/) Ellen Kenner > [“You want to know what's wrong with the world?" Dad paused. "It's this alienation that permeates every aspect of humanity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-david-henderson/you-want-to-know-what-s-wrong-with-the-world-dad-paused-it-s-this/) Mark David Henderson > [“Indifference to me, is the epitome of all evil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/indifference-to-me-is-the-epitome-of-all-evil/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [“But, in fact, a person's sexual choice is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions. Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/but-in-fact-a-person-s-sexual-choice-is-the-result-and-sum-of-their/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/at-least-two-important-conservative-thinkers-ayn-rand-and-leo-strauss/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Live your life somewhere in between Ayn Rand and Mother Theresa. It's just as important to better yourself as it is to better others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregor-collins/live-your-life-somewhere-in-between-ayn-rand-and-mother-theresa-it-s/) [Gregor Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregor-collins/) > [ “To sum it all up, the \[Ayn\] Rand belief system looks like this: 1. Facts are facts: things can be absolutely right or absolutely… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/to-sum-it-all-up-the-ayn-rand-belief-system-looks-like-this-1-facts/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [“My Stephen King for his Ayn Rand. My Terry Goodkind for his T.S. Elliot. Not a bang but a whimper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-celebi/my-stephen-king-for-his-ayn-rand-my-terry-goodkind-for-his-t-s-elliot/) [Shannon Celebi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-celebi/) > [“In the history of philosophy, the term “rationalism” has two distinct meanings. In one sense, it signifies an unbreached commitment to reasoned thought in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-bernstein/in-the-history-of-philosophy-the-term-rationalism-has-two-distinct/) [Andrew Bernstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-bernstein/) > [“I've wanted to want it. I should think it would be exciting to become a dissolute woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/i-ve-wanted-to-want-it-i-should-think-it-would-be-exciting-to-become/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“Kelley also marked 1965 as a turning point for another profound reason. That year, he discovered the work of author Ayn Rand. 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Are these the ‘fields’ in which he is not to regard himself as superior? 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