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. > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
