Amerika

This site long ago fingered individualism as the crisis of humanity, especially the sort that is concerned with “my ignorance is as good as your knowledge” and “no one can tell me ‘no'” attitudes.

People seek justification for themselves, meaning some story to explain how their choices have led to the best possible outcome, and they want to be able to act out their wishful thinking and make choices on a whim.

Some call this expressive individualism:

That premise stands in contrast with the dominant modern worldview, which he calls “expressive individualism”: the belief that the human self “is not defined by its attachments or networks of relations, but rather by its capacity to choose a future pathway that is revealed by the investigation of its own inner depths of sentiment. . . . Because this self is defined by its capacity to choose, it is associated fundamentally with its will and not its body.”

This seems like a perfect formula for a tyrannical state. You must stay in your apartment, work at your appointed job, and consume state media, but everything else is your choice, especially sex, since that makes you feel like an evolutionary success as the product of your will.

We are such simple monkeys at heart.

Tags: expressive individualism, individualism, my ignorance is as good as your knowledge, no one can tell me no, solipsism, will