individualism, properly understood
Individualism, properly understood, is a different animal altogether than the “rugged individual” of American myth – and even further distant from the entitled individual born into our own senseless era of wealth and purposelessness, severed from our communities and our history and our culture. Individualism means more than what it has come to mean in either of these senses.
The “rugged individual” has been mythologized as the bootstrapper – the American business mogul who pulled himself up from humble beginnings into a position of power and wealth. The entitled individual is spoiled, shallow, skeptical of the value of hard work, more interested in selfish pursuits than in helping others, detached from consequence, and possessed of an odd expectation that they deserve a great job, great pay, lots of toys – all for simply existing. Both are examples of the so-called American Dream – one its myth, and one the consequence, perhaps, of that myth. [Read more →]
September 10, 2009 14 Comments
