Family
Rugged Individualism
So, Emy and I got in a bit of quarrel yesterday (I was wrong again). One of the issues brought up was the nature of leadership, and it has led me to reflect on my own individualism. Emily had rightly accused me of not taking her opinions seriously enough in my decisions, and sometimes not even considering her when making decisions that impact both of us. Not only is she right, but I noticed that I have this tendency with all people: I consider my opinion on a subject (generally one I feel qualified or knowledgable about) better than anyone else’s. Obviously there are a great many problems with this thought process, but I’d like to focus on the individualistic aspect of it.
When I consider my own decisions as more valuable (to me) than anyone else’s opinions about the situation, I have engaged in the heart of individualism. I have denied the authority or importance of the community, be it my communing with an individual (like Emily) or with a larger group. Essentially, a part of individualism seems rooted in mistrust: mistrust of the decision of the community (both its elders/leaders and/or the community itself). This jives with the attitude that we are the only ones who can make right decisions for ourselves. (Sidenote: that would be why arranged marriages seems so horrible (not that I’m condoning them), but the idea that your ‘life-partner’ would be chosen by someone other than the you yourself seems absolutely preposterous in an individualist context. There may be some great wisdom in arranged marriages, but I don’t really know enough about the subject)
It is interesting that our country is so individualist. We do not trust others to lead. It may be argued immediately that such is not the case, but I would argue elseways: we are happy to vote in officials and whatnot because we generally have a disconnect in our understanding: we think we have no power or real political authority as the voters. We elect the officials and then do not worry about the situation because we cannot do anything about it (whatever that situation is). Sometimes, we agree, if enough people get fed up (like Iraq), then maybe some change will happen. But even right now most people in the country do not want to continue the war and it is still going.
At our work places, and economics in general, the authority system is authoritarian (we do not choose our bosses). We do not have a system that allows for it, and so our individualism is merely ignored. This does not do anything to encourage or hinder it, but our attitude to our bosses (”I could do it so much better” etc.) leads to our self-enforcing the superiority of our own decisionmaking.
There is an interesting counter culture move in the Mennonite church to individualism. The church only makes decisions if they are in unanimous agreement. If someone disagrees with the decision (even if it is that same single person every time), they do not make it. Only if everyone is content to at least try it does the decision move forward. I am not sure that this sort of decision making could occur in a larger church body (although it wouldn’t hurt to try I’m sure), but the point is that a small community can together fight against individualism. The point is that there is a way, though we have to have be willing to make the necessary sacrifices (particularly those in power) to give up our personal authority for the communal authority (this does not mean that there is no place for wisdom: but wisdom is recognized by others not insisted in oneself).
For those who would question whether individualism or communal worldviews have a moral nature, I am not sure that I can answer such a question for anyone other than myself (odd, but MacIntyre does say that individualist choice in Ethics is inevitable, at least for now). And in myself, I find both the desire and need for community. Both because the of the closeness of the trust in relationships formed this way. That trust is not able to be built in individualistic systems to the same degree. But also, it is evident how much my individualism hurts others, and so I can see a need for correction in my own life. My only solution right now is humility: pursuing humility through prayer and consciously asking the question, “Am I thinking myself superior, or am I actually treating others as equals?”
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