[MD] Roots of Individualism

[Mary]

Hi John,

Seems an overlooked post in the general flurry.  Yes, you, who are so
focused on the Social Level.  I watch my MSNBC too.  The irony is, the
TeaGaggers will not know what has happened to them until it happens to them
too.

Yes, I see the typo.  Made a conscious decision not to fix it. ;)

Mary

On Behalf Of John Carl
> Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 2:29 PM
> 
> Individualism is a pretty popular idea around here (usa) so it gets
> assumed
> a lot.  But I'd like to look at it a little deeper than usual.
> 
> First, of course, comes analysis of its metaphysical underpinnings and
> here
> Royce is helpful in pointing out what should be painfully obvious, that
> the
> individual is socially defined and created.
> 
> But even more interestingly pertinent, is how Royce points out that the
> highest value of the community, ought to be in the creation of quality
> individuals and the highest value of the individual, must be the
> creation of
> a quality community.
> 
> The one great common mistake  individuals make, especially Randian
> individuals, is valuing the needs of  individualism over and against
> the
> needs the community.
> 
> Now as I say, this idea is actually pretty popular in America, and I
> have a
> theory as to why.
> 
> Cultural influences, of course.  I don't blame Ayn Rand for
> Individualism,
> she's just an intellectual, after all.  Doing what intellectuals do
> best.
> Coming in and analyzing intellectually what everybody has already
> assimilated through the arts.  Figuring out later, where to draw the
> lines
> and encapsulate the knowing.
> 
> But the individualism itself arose through the artistic impulses of a
> newly-industrialized people.  A new system developed where a man's
> individual worth became meaningless since all we need from him is the
> ability to be a widget maker in a factory.  This development, while
> useful
> for building a prosperous society, has an inherent biological danger in
> store for a species, of obviating the mechanism which got us here -
> natural
> selection.
> 
> "Survival of the fittest" loses all its oomph when fitness becomes a
> fashion
> statement more than a criterion for survival.
> 
> And thus a barely-felt need by the populace at large, for the heroic
> exaltation of individual excellence.  That's just the dna pleading for
> some
> help here.
> 
> Thus the heroic exaltation of Shane - riding into town, then riding out
> again.  The rebel without a cause, sneering at social traps.  The free
> wheeling poet, on the road and on the screen.
> 
> The big trouble with this impulse, is that its so easily manipulated.
> Remember, individuals are created by the community-at-large.  When this
> process gets turned over completely to the industrialized society, you
> can
> expect a warpage to occur.  You can expect a model for individuals to
> evolve
> that isolates and weakens people and community, for it is in the
> weakness of
> the small that the Giant gains strength.
> 
> And when EVERYBODY is fiercely individualistic, together they comprise
> one
> vast and easily manipulated collective.  Thus emphasizing
> individualism,
> actually weakens individuals.  Becomes weak through the degeneracy that
> all
> self-worship eventually entails.
> 
> The irony of course, is that by standing up against the collective
> impulse
> of society, I'm actually making a pretty good argument for the worth of
> an
> individual perspective, over and against the collective wisdom.
> 
> Oh well.  I like irony.  That's just me.
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