Individualism and strength

dilloduck

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May 8, 2004
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The Need for a New Individualism

by Edward Hudgins

America has been the land of the individual, and most Americans have thought of themselves as individualists. We still speak favorably of individual rights, individual initiative, individual responsibility, individual opportunity, and individual achievement.

But America's individualism is disappearing and with it our political freedom and the moral foundations of our society. This is because the economic and political manifestations of individualism—freedom and capitalism—cannot stand on their own; they require sound moral ideas of rational self-interest that are manifest in sound moral character. Those moral ideas justify this freedom, and that moral character requires the support of the culture and of institutions based on those ideas.
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http://www.objectivistcenter.org/navigator/articles/nav+ehudgins_new-individualism.asp

I liked this article
 
I consider myself an individualist and I like the old spirit
of the west. Unfortunatly pc took over and its on
of the idelogies I truly hate.

Communism was defeated, Pc unfortunatly is still alive
and well.
 
I liked this article, too, Dillo. Well worth reading. I particularly liked the following quote: Winston Churchill said, "socialism is the equal sharing of misery," and he was right that many opponents of freedom are not simply confused about the economic consequences of their policies—rather, they want to pull down the well-to-do more than to raise up those in need.
 
nosarcasm said:
I consider myself an individualist and I like the old spirit
of the west. Unfortunatly pc took over and its on
of the idelogies I truly hate.

Communism was defeated, Pc unfortunatly is still alive
and well.

Must agree with you here, but loss of individualism also happens on the right. Think of all the people who run around repeating Rush Limbaugh slogans without even understanding them, or the repeated misuse of the words "compassion" and "compassionate" by followers of the current administration.
 
nucular said:
Must agree with you here, but loss of individualism also happens on the right. Think of all the people who run around repeating Rush Limbaugh slogans without even understanding them, or the repeated misuse of the words "compassion" and "compassionate" by followers of the current administration.
Unfortunately as the article points out it is happeneing everywhere. People aren't thinking for themselves or facing reality. They allow the 2 political parties, the MSM and the "Intellectual Elite" to define the issues for them and give them thier talking points. The few individualists that I see are able to rise above the propaganda and see reality for what it is. The sheep of the world cannot even fathom what they are saying becuase they are too indoctrinated and afraid of original perceptions of what is true.
New ideas are too scary for the lazy thinker and they simply do not want to hear them.
 
dilloduck said:
Unfortunately as the article points out it is happeneing everywhere. People aren't thinking for themselves or facing reality. They allow the 2 political parties, the MSM and the "Intellectual Elite" to define the issues for them and give them thier talking points. The few individualists that I see are able to rise above the propaganda and see reality for what it is. The sheep of the world cannot even fathom what they are saying becuase they are too indoctrinated and afraid of original perceptions of what is true.
New ideas are too scary for the lazy thinker and they simply do not want to hear them.

That's because it's an attitude problem more than anything else. People have been so inundated with stimuli (TV, movies, preachers, music, sports, video games) that they have become totally passive. In a passive state critical thinking is lost. Then they just reguritate what they take in.
:confused:
 
nucular said:
That's because it's an attitude problem more than anything else. People have been so inundated with stimuli (TV, movies, preachers, music, sports, video games) that they have become totally passive. In a passive state critical thinking is lost. Then they just reguritate what they take in.
:confused:

Passive, lazy, afraid, dependent-take your pick, but good old yankee ingenuity ,the pioneer spirit and rigged individualism has been replaced with a cancer. There are also many social institutions that collectively gather to stifle new and creative thought or action. In many cases it's simply too risky to be an individual despite the fact that over history some of the greatest thinkers in the world have encouraged it and predicted disaster if it didn't continue.
 

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