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American individualism rears its ugly head too often, harming relations with each other
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IT is a tad embarrassing that at 71 I find that my “little boy self” still resides deep within me, emerging at the most unexpected times.
The upside to this is that I am able to greatly enjoy the simple joys each day presents — bird songs, soothing breezes in warm weather, the incredible beauty of our natural world, and the wonder of each human being.
The downside is that sometimes this little boy in me just wants to “run home, jump into bed, pull the covers up over my head, and only then peer out cautiously at a world that seems to be incomprehensible, overwhelming, and brimming with possible threats.
Over time, I have become more practiced at soothing this little boy, but there are still times — like now — when I have to be a little more attentive to his unsettling presence.
A few days ago, I began another course from The Teaching Company devoted to introducing me to cultures and customs of the world in a way that I can develop my cultural intelligence.
This term means more than simply “appreciating” other cultures, important as that is; rather, it seeks to fine-tune one’s perceptional antenna in order to develop “cultural intelligence”: how to use one’s awareness of cultural differences to enhance understanding.
I have long been fascinated by other cultures, but I am not at all confident that my own cultural intelligence is very high. In any case, one of the lecture subjects is the cultural differences between those societies that value individualism, like the United States, and the far larger number that emphasize a more collective perspective.
As an American, I have long struggled with the exalted status of individualism in this country. This “individualism to an extreme” manifests itself in many undesirable ways. It explains why American politics is so often characterized by arrogance, stark polarities, and viciousness.
Exalted ego
After all, the exalted ego — I think for myself, therefore not only must I be right, but my values are the standards by which I measure others — allows for little, if any, self-reflection. Only self-reflecting individuals can be humble and attuned to others.
It is, then, no wonder that compromise has become so rare these days, for it cannot possibly happen unless people involved are open to those with whom they disagree, ready to truly listen to the others’ points of view in order to better understand, and possibly incorporate, their values and goals.
But if one believes that someone is an “opponent” precisely because he or she is on the wrong side, possesses flawed or biased information, and anyhow, operates from lesser or lower motives, then what is the point of compromise? That just becomes another word for violating one’s sacred principles.
And so the federal Congress has seen its increasingly rabid factions throwing sand into its own operational gears. People now run for elective office because they do not believe in compromise; they pledge, instead, to stand their ground and bring the other side to its knees! What incredible idiocy!
I believe this imbalanced individualism is also at the heart of America’s problem with guns. Although the much-vaunted Second Amendment to the Constitution is clumsily written, it clearly places the right to own firearms in the context of their use in a citizen militia. Before community police forces, state National Guard units and federal armed forces, such militias were a community’s only way of defending itself.
But since the 1960s, the nefarious National Rifle Association and other rightest groups aligned with it have twisted that amendment to justify individual rights to gun ownership without restriction. Those who argue that, on the contrary, there are sound community-safety reasons why such unrestricted ownership is not a good idea are shouted down by those who favor the right to carry firearms anywhere.
Linked to this is the very violent nature of so much of American life. Some people drink too much, get into fights, then draw weapons (sometimes a knife, more often a gun). Unbalanced people of all ages fly into a rage, grab a gun, and “get even.”
Excessive individualism also explains American distrust of, and even disdain for, the United Nations. Quite apart from any facts dealing with UN performance, American individualism forcefully reinforces the heroic myth of our “standing alone against all odds.”
Since our viewpoint is always thought to be clearer, less sullied by selfish motives or territorial ambitions, why should not our point of view carry the day?
Admittedly, not all Americans think like this nor, thankfully, do most American statesmen and women. But, as the far Right continues to gain strength in the United States, these undesirable and destructive traits of individualism may become even more of an issue with which others will have to grapple.
Personally, I know we are united by the values — and even by the threats — we have in common. We all hope for a better, more sustainable world for our children; we would prefer to live in peace and harmony with each other; we fervently wish to understand, even as we hope to be better understood.
If we can focus on these, and not on those things that can divide us, perhaps we can strive successfully to mold a more community-conscious world.
The author has been a college teacher of American history and political science and the director of the US National Catholic Rural Life Conference; he served as a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives and retired from public service in the Iowa executive branch in 2004.
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