September at ACO: $18,000 raised, four-city premieres, Tall Poppy Syndrome

September at ACO: Encouraging Success, Ambition, and Hard Work

Index

1 - Founder’s Message

2 - Quent Cordair Fine Art

3 - Donor Testimonials

4 - Intellectual Content

5 - Atlantis & Membership

6 - Upcoming Events

Monthly Topic: Evaluating Australian Culture

Download the September discussion paper

1 - Founder’s Message

Dear ACO Members,

At the beginning of September, a one-city Australian premiere tour of We the Living was an ambition. We have now raised the money to fund a four-city premiere tour.

Here is where we stand:

Our fundraiser has reached $18,000, exceeding its original $10,000 target and providing the funds for premieres in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.

We have welcomed our first Benefactor member, at $10,000.

We now have two Patron members, at $1,000.

Quent Cordair Fine Art sold all five prints offered in support of the fundraiser, contributing more than $1,000 to the total.

Tickets for We the Living premieres will go on sale soon. In this issue, we also share Quent Cordair’s poem My Kingdom, alongside our latest articles and announcements.

Thank you to our donors, members and volunteers for making this possible.

Maxim Bishev
Founder | Australian Centre for Objectivism

2 - Quent Cordair Fine Art

A massive thank you to Quent Cordair Fine Art for their generous support of ACO’s We The Living Premiere coming to Australia in 2027.

Quent Cordair Fine Art is the world’s leading gallery devoted to Romantic Realism. They have generously donated the proceeds from five Ayn Rand cover art prints totalling over $1000. This pushes us ever closer to our goal, while supporting the beautiful artworks by Nick Gaetano and the gallery.

Quent Cordair has additionally allowed us to feature one of their poems, My Kingdom from their own 2019 collection. You may find this poem on our website.

Visit the Quent Cordair Fine Art Website to learn more about the gallery and the beautiful artworks they feature.

3 - Donor Testimonials

As ACO is moving ever closer to our goal of bringing We The Living to Australia, we would like to share two testimonials about why ACO donors support our cause to advance Objectivism in Australia though educational and cultural engagement.

“Dear Maxim and The ACO Team,

I wish to thank you and the ACO organisation for your commitment to bring Objectivists ideas to our Australian shores.

While observing from the sidelines for the past 12 months, it is clear to me that you have the passion necessary to make a real difference to intellectual debate in this country, and perhaps more importantly, you have the intellectual honesty and thirst for knowledge required to ensure a commitment to the truth.

On a very personal note, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the We The Living movie premiere. Artistic representation of Objectivist ideas, and the sense of life it represents, is a critical aspect of the communication tools necessary to bring about a more life affirming culture. I think you understand this, as you have chosen to premiere the We The Living movie as your first project.

Looking forward to seeing this first step come to life.”

Anthony Dalla Fontana
ACO Benefactor

“In Australia it is socially risky to even hint at the radical idea of rational self-interest. The mentioning of the name Ayn Rand often elicits incredulous howls of that great universal sin - “selfishness”. Worse still, these days her name is more often than not met with a blank stare of non-recognition.

I have chosen to support ACO for the very selfish reason of not wanting to be alone in my daily battle against altruism. ACO opens up another front fighting self-sacrifice and the massing forces of tribalism.”

Justin Malinowski
ACO Patron

We would like to graciously thank our generous donors for enabling ACO to pursue meaningful progress in advancing Objectivism within Australia. It is through your support that ACO is able to bring We The Living to Australia, and to a greater extent than we conceived possible!

4 - Intellectual Content

1: Article: “The Tall Poppy Problem” by Harrison Borough

2: Article: “My Advice to Gen Z” by Maxim Bishev

3: Article: “The Immigrant Who Cannot Win” by Maxim Bishev

4: Poem: “My Kingdom” by Quent Cordair

Sat, Sep 26

The Tall Poppy Problem: Why Australia Should Learn to Admire Achievement

Tall Poppy Syndrome is what we call it when someone does well and the room decides to take them down a peg. We tell ourselves it's humility, proof we're not up ourselves. It isn't.

Sat, Sep 26

My Advice to Gen Z

Most young Australians are intelligent, educated, and quietly unambitious — not because they lack ability, but because they've mistaken caution for wisdom.

Sat, Sep 26

The Immigrant Who Cannot Win

A human being does not belong to the country in which he happened to be born. If he threatens nobody, the question is not why he should be permitted to enter. It is by what right should he be stopped?

Sat, Sep 26

My Kingdom - Poem by Quent Cordair

This poem was written by Quent Cordair. It's our pleasure to share Quent's poem as a vision for an ideal society - the vision towards which we are building. Sovereign individuals, traders, and dreamers here reign.

Topic: God and Religion

Sunday, 18 October, 10:00am AEST

Download the October discussion paper.

This Month, we’ll be discussing God and Religion. This discussion examines religion not sociologically or therapeutically, but philosophically.

Ayn Rand was an atheist who rejected religion entirely, viewing faith as antithetical to reason. She argued mysticism and belief in God undermine rational thought and human agency, replacing logic with unproven dogma. Her philosophy, Objectivism, holds that morality must derive from reason and reality alone, not divine command, scripture, or supernatural belief of any kind.

The aim is to understand what belief in God represents at the level of epistemology and metaphysics, why religious faith conflicts with reason, and how religion functions psychologically in human life.

These meetings are exclusive to Atlantis members.

To participate, you can become a member here:
https://objectivism.au/support

Become a Member