Short comment: Individualism (The Ambiguities if Individualism, Mythic Individualism), by Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart
It strikes me on how the author defended the core of American (i.e. citizen of United States of America) culture and identity– individual dignity is view as sacrilegious as meaning of life itself. I do agree it is morally wrong to violate individual right and freedom to live life as they see fit although I am not so convince about the fact that individualism is not related to selfishness, which I long thought it is. But since modern individualism has grown stronger at the expense of the civic and biblical traditions, individual are increasingly self-centered and difficult to separate from that of selfishness and self-interest.
Hence, it is arguable whether commitment to absolute individual dignity can be view as antidote to inequalities, as the author suggested. To me, such individual rarely pursue decisions that are not beneficial to them-self, or almost certain to have conflicting interest with some other individual in the society that they belong to. This, as Tocqueville warned, is weakening the very meanings that gives content and substance to the ideal of individual dignity.
One way to address this ambivalence is maybe by reinterpret civic and biblical tradition of individualism in the context of today’s society. I felt stronger sense of such urgency after witnessing increasing rate & intensity of globalization (interaction of global actors/powers), and in particular in this article, over glorification of “American mythic hero”: Hero who “saves a society he can never completely fit into.” His significance and need by society is fully self-justified by his “special talent, unique individual virtue and special skill” as cowboy or as the last honest detective who able to resist “money, power or sex” in his lonely crusade for justice. This is another contradiction as democracy does not condone one-sided view.
Like America’s hero-role in the world since World Wars period, this individualism is neither pure “justice” nor completely “selfishness.” Hero should possess the intelligent to solve both the world’s problem as well as of his own: “belong to the society, not isolated or considered antisocial.” What comes after all the positive attributes of individualism should be the wisdom to resolve its ambiguities from within – an even more comprehensive definition of modern individualism.
Hence, it is arguable whether commitment to absolute individual dignity can be view as antidote to inequalities, as the author suggested. To me, such individual rarely pursue decisions that are not beneficial to them-self, or almost certain to have conflicting interest with some other individual in the society that they belong to. This, as Tocqueville warned, is weakening the very meanings that gives content and substance to the ideal of individual dignity.
One way to address this ambivalence is maybe by reinterpret civic and biblical tradition of individualism in the context of today’s society. I felt stronger sense of such urgency after witnessing increasing rate & intensity of globalization (interaction of global actors/powers), and in particular in this article, over glorification of “American mythic hero”: Hero who “saves a society he can never completely fit into.” His significance and need by society is fully self-justified by his “special talent, unique individual virtue and special skill” as cowboy or as the last honest detective who able to resist “money, power or sex” in his lonely crusade for justice. This is another contradiction as democracy does not condone one-sided view.
Like America’s hero-role in the world since World Wars period, this individualism is neither pure “justice” nor completely “selfishness.” Hero should possess the intelligent to solve both the world’s problem as well as of his own: “belong to the society, not isolated or considered antisocial.” What comes after all the positive attributes of individualism should be the wisdom to resolve its ambiguities from within – an even more comprehensive definition of modern individualism.
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