I know it’s popular to talk about everybody doing whatever they want, but really, can we face a little reality?
The United States and many countries have the idea that the individual is the most important. We made such a big deal about individual everything. While it can be helpful at times to be an individual, there are times we need to come together as a group and I think those times are more now than ever.
I see our society in the US fragmenting into very political and highly selective groups. I see people on LinkedIn and in real life who don’t want to acknowledge facts that contradict their worldview. We argue about facts and science, and we argue about the merit of ideas. To me, there is a standard of what is useful that doesn’t make it true, but it is a good starting point for discussion.
For example, I see people who argue against climate change by saying we don’t have enough information. I don’t care what your position is on this issue, it is just an example. At what point does your ego need more information? When the scientific community is convinced about climate change, why are you as an individual allowed to disbelieve in it? This isn’t an opinion, this is ignorance of science.
Yes, I know that people can disbelieve and believe anything they want. I think this is a sick side effect of individualism going wild. We elevate the individual over the truth. I don’t know what truth it is, but it’s clear that not everyone’s “truth” can be true. As a society, we agree on certain things. This has helped society. Why is it so hard to continue to use principles such as balance and reasonableness in our own lives?
For example, the separation of powers and different branches of government enable balance. We have a judicial body that always questions interpretations and reasonableness. In our own life, wouldn’t it be amazing if we tried to act as both the lawgiver, the law proposer, and the questioner of the law?
Yet we see that people are ready to be only the lawgiver, and only their law should apply to others. I think that the lack of proposing means people aren’t open to compromise, and the lack of questioning leads us further out of balance and reasonableness.
Listen I’m not saying that being an individual is bad. I am saying that just being an individual is as dangerous as a cancer cell. A cancer cell only seeks to grow and kills the body because of its unregulated growth. There has to be more than life than just prosperity, and the saddest people only think of their prosperity.