CNNIBN reports attempted self-immolation of a man in Chennai for the Lanka cause.
A computer operator on Thursday attempted self-immolation here, outside a building housing central government offices, to draw attention to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, police said. Twenty-six-year–old M Muthu Kumaran was admitted to a government hospital in a serious condition with 95 per cent burns. According to police sources, Kumaran, who works for a PMK-owned Tamil periodical, said: “the attempt was to open the eyes of the central and state governments to the burning issue of Lankan Tamils”.
It is quite surprising how so many people think they find value in dying for a cause which is so dear to them. What should be more important is to live for it, and fight.
This question was handled immaculately by Ayn Rand in the Playboy interview.
PLAYBOY: Would you be willing to die for your cause, and should your followers be willing to die for it? And for the truly nonsacrificial Objectivist, is any cause worth dying for?
RAND: The answer to this is made plain in my book. In Atlas Shrugged I explain that a man has to live for, and when necessary, fight for, his values — because the whole process of living consists of the achievement of values. [...] You ask me, would I be willing to die for Objectivism? I would. But what is more important, I am willing to live for it — which is much more difficult.
