For Rand, the good Samaritan was not simply a chump: he was in fact doing something wicked.
It's hard not to think of the spluttering apoplexy of those who thought that Unilever's position on Marmite was unpatriotic, or that the remaining EU nations will be doing something wicked if they choose to make it difficult for us to leave pour encourager les autres.
The logic is somewhat like this: since nothing comes from nothing, one must have done something good in the past, in this life or some other life, if one is happy; and, on the other hand, if one suffers then one must have done something wicked, if not in this life then in some other previous life.
Becoming a parent has done something wicked to me.
Bache described the president in such terms as "old, querulous, bald, blind, crippled, toothless Adams". First lady Abigail Adams urged her husband to do something to stop these "wicked and base, violent" attacks against him and his government.
About now, I hear sceptical voices say: for heaven's sake, is it so wicked to do something for artists at the expense of dealers and auctioneers, who make up one of the shadiest and least lovable groups in our society?
So, rather than run away from the world by playing World of Warcraft all day long (which, granted, is what I do!), or checking into this or that bar with FourSquare, or tweeting that you're eating a wicked lunch, do something a little more constructive!
But if even one bright 16 year old picks up today's Guardian in the sixth form common room of his or her state school, reads that the top universities are "closed" to people from poor backgrounds, and decides that applying to such a university is a cruel waste of effort, then Mr Clegg has done something rather wicked.
John : Do something else.
