I have been told my whole life that I have no right to be me. This started during my years in our mental prison system when my teachers tried to shove me into the same mold as everyone else. When it became clear that I didn't fit, they aggressively assaulted my mental health to force my compliance to their conform-or-else mindset.
Although I graduated high school, my diploma was a complete misrepresentation of who I was. I was not just another schooling-certified mindless drone. I was an individual.
Living in an era of extreme intolerance, I gradually shifted. Whenever I have been around others, I have actively betrayed myself. I have lived the bulk of my life as someone that I can't respect.
If I only had to worry about myself, I wouldn't complain too much. Unfortunately, over-conformity has effectively harmed all American citizens who fail to be the same person demanded out of all of us. With this mindset, unless we successfully destroy what makes everyone unique, we will consistently do considerable harm to those who remain individuals.
I hate labels, but there's no question that I qualify as an individualist. If we care about fundamental rights and freedoms, we must support the right for people to be themselves. We must support the right to deviate from a narrow and rigid mold. Citizens must be allowed to live the lives that are best for them rather than the lives assigned to them.
This is why I am openly critical of the golden rule. You shouldn't treat others the way you want to be treated. Instead, you should try to respect how they want to be treated.
In recent years, individualism has been treated as synonymous with selfishness. There are a couple of big problems with this argument. For starters, a lot of collectivists want their own personal views to determine how all individuals must act. Collectivists can and frequently do show selfish tendencies.
So, what is collectivism? In short, it's the idea that everyone should be expected to live for society rather than themselves. On the surface, that might sound nice, but it's seriously flawed. Collectivist governments such as communism, fascism, and national socialism ensure that we have a common viewpoint regarding what's best for society. This ultimately means that what's best for society is established solely by those in a position of authority. Average citizens with different needs will not have their needs met.
What is the best way for an individual to benefit society? That is highly variable. If you want what's best for society, it seems ridiculous for a small group to dictate the actions of everyone. The most we can do for society absolutely requires individualism.
In all fairness, I'm probably deviating from most definitions of individualism. Even so, there's a lot of overlap. People should generally look out for their best interests. That's because they will be the only ones who truly understand their best interests. What many people overlook is that people looking out for their own best interests are more likely to benefit society as a whole. Their best interests include living in a world that works for everyone. That best interests also include being in good physical and mental shape, which can make them better people and put them in a better position to contribute to their abilities.
Let me say this clearly. Individualism is NOT what's wrong with America. It can't be. We have abandoned individualism. The real problem is that we have embraced a collectivist mindset that requires everyone to abandon what makes them unique. We force everyone to conform to the lowest common denominator. We effectively prohibit individuals from contributing beyond what everyone else could.
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