The Myth Of Individualism Analysis

Journal Entry Three
In the recent weeks, I have noticed a trend in our cultural beliefs regarding groups outside of our own. As a nation, while the United States has a strongly individualistic nature from a personal perspective, there is also a strong collectivist belief regarding everyone outside of themselves and their groups. Rather than believing that each member of an external group is responsible for their decisions alone (myth of individualism), separating them from a collective (one bad apple), the consensus is generally geared opposite. For example, the belief that all immigrants want to steal American jobs, when one is not an immigrant, or that feminists are actually misandrists, when one is not a feminist. What I believe we have

Viewing others’ groups as collective makes people feel more connected to their own group, just as in the book The Myth of Individualism by Peter Callero when the scout troops formed solidarity with one another. However, this “us” and “them” mentality also creates a volatile animosity. In a camp setting, the boy scouts began to fight with one another outside of designated games. In a world setting, we achieve what we have in the United States today between the Anglo-Saxon/Christian majorities versus the minority groups of Islamics. Alternatively, we achieve similar polarity between Christian Germans and Jewish Germans before Hitler’s rise to power, and start America on the path to genocide on its

Reading the news mere moments ago, people are realizing Trump’s viewpoints are too fascist even for the furthest right-wing GOP member, denouncing his actions and beliefs. However, the very possibility of genocide on U.S. soil does bring up a different side to the Myth of Individualism. Perhaps it is not individualism itself that is the issue, but that it is not traded off through viewing ourselves as a collective as well. If everyone in the world saw themselves as both individuals and affected within their environments. As well as, viewed everyone else in a similar light, then perhaps a greater interconnectivity and understanding could be reached. Perhaps it is following the old saying, ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ that is required to act as a prevention of sorts. I will say, however, that history has already placed her bets against us. It is up to us as a people to decide if she will