31 Jul 2022 12:00 am
extreme individualism became such a huge part of American culture because cooperation was no longer needed after the 1960s. If there had a been a total disdain for collectivism and cooperation from the start, the country would not have been built.FOS » 30 Jul 2022, 7:16 pm » wrote: ↑ Earlier I was talking to some southern boomer...who clearly was some sort of conservative. Naturally the general topic of politics came up and he seemed to hold the political belief that 'everyone should mind their own business'.
I have heard this from conservative radio talking heads before. It is clearly some sort of conservative shibboleth. The democrats are bad cause they wanna tell people what to do etc.
and I responded that you kinda have to mind other people's business because humans naturally form into tribes and it is the entire tribe that wins or loses. I suppose I could have simply mentioned that you have to do something about a murderer or something...but I was curious how he would respond to my comment about tribes.
and predictably...he insisted that he is not a member of any group. This is another radio conservative talking point I have heard. It is the 'demonrats' who divide everyone by race but the ideologically pure Republicans are all mere individuals.
I asked him if he considered himself a member of the United States 'group'...and he admitted he was. And I pointed out that if the usa was conquered by Mexico, it would have some impact on his life.
At this point he got rather emotional and accused me of being a contrarian and he insisted we change the subject. He didn't have any sort of response to these glaringly obvious facts...but he clearly was unable to change his mind and it just upset him that I was pointing out obvious things. Basically, his brain was clearly hacked by the repetition of conservative pundit narratives.
and I cannot help but have a conspiratorial attitude to this...because it seems very clear that the mainstream conservative talking points seem almost deliberately designed to preclude conservatives from acquiring any sort of power. You cannot tell anyone else what to do, therefore you can't have power. You cannot act with any collective effort, therefore you can't have power. Jesus loves everyone and would never cast the first stone, therefore you can't have power. You must treat everyone fairly even of they do not reciprocate, therefore you can't have power.
There are too many examples of this and it is too obvious so I cannot imagine that the people pushing such narratives do so in good faith. 4he purpose must be to ensure that conservatives always lose. Because if there was a 'right wing' movement that was actually willing and able to acquire power...we know what would happen next. Hitler.
Individualism could only be upheld as the ultimate virtue AFTER the construction of railways, power grids, sewer systems, refineries, steel mills, the interstate highway system etc. because those endeavors required collective cooperation.
look at how American cities have fallen into urban ruin as individual competition replaced collective cooperation. American manufacturing sector being outsourced also played a role of course.
The Chinese embrace collective effort and cooperation, and they are going to become the new superpower by 2050.