My Dear Ben,
Yes, Modern Individualism has its problems. It has made us more self-centered. It has made us less connected to others, maybe even colder towards others. It is possible that, as your question suggested this focus upon ourselves has given us a “decreased threshold for discomfort, pain and suffering.”
It seems to me the implied part of your question is to move away from our “increased individualism,” and towards an increased emphasis upon community. Well, community is good, more or less, but it can have its flaws as well.
The individual culture we have produced…
Wait a minute: are we actually individualist? We are such a mass consumer culture marked by group trends and fads that we are constantly conforming to, so much pressure to be part of a group, are we really all that individualistic?
ahem.
Sorry, Wode Toad. You’re right; I’m getting off track.
The individual culture we have produced has its flaws, and might have made us more self-centered, perhaps even selfish, but individualism has its strengths as well, especially for those of us who are individuals.
By this, of course, I mean all of us.
There is a core to each of us, something that is our self, which lies outside of the embrace of the community, even outside of the formative powers of our social environment.
If community really does shape us, then why is it that so many of us fit so abysmally into those communities?
I’m thinking of a young man I know who was raised in the verdant fields of the American mid-west, part of an extended family, an active participant in his schools, member—an active member—of his community of faith. He grows up trying very hard to be a part of this community, and working to do what the community needs. He is committed to the values and goals of his community—family, God, soybeans, heaven—whatever it is that Midwesterners believe in.
Yet he still might, and did, grown up to be someone the community has at every step actively worked towards preventing him from becoming. That core within him that can’t quite be explained by genes or environment finds itself attracted to other men, and by the disconnect, the psychic pain, he is aware of two things: the power that the community exerts over him, and the resistance of his own individuality that can not conform to the demands of that power.
So, what am I to say to him?
Should I extol the virtues of community and preach the moral bankruptcy of modern individualism?
What should I say to the High School student whose teachers discipline her when she colors her hair or whose classmates taunt her when she wears black finger-less gloves? Should I talk to her about the nurturing power of community?
What should I say to the 13-year-old Afghan girl whose family sells her to be the wife of a 70-year-old man from the neighboring village? Should I talk to her about how our identity is derived from the community that raised us? Should I talk to her about ubuntu, and how “I am because we are?”
Given the choice between Sartre’s and De Beauvoir’s individualism on the one hand and MacIntyre’s and Hauerwas’ (or Pope Benedict’s) communitarianism on the other, which should I recommend to any of these human beings? Philosophies that say choose who you want to be, but accept the full responsibility for your choices, or philosophies that say find your value within the community?
I would most certainly say read Sartre. Read Nietzsche if it gives you strength. Read Thoreau. Read Virginia Woolf and find a room of your own. Read Carol Gilligan or bell hooks and find a voice of your own.
I would say that Socrates should have left Athens before his noble community killed him, even if that meant facing the world alone.
I gave up trying to be like everybody else when I was in the 7th grade. I realized I wasn’t like everybody else and if I wasn’t me I would never be happy with who I was. Now when people say that I’m weird or strange I just laugh because I can see they think that that should mean something to me but it really doesn’t. I think more of any animal than I do of 99 % of people. I read westerns and vampire books. I love old country music and Motown. I want to have crazy sex with Billy Ray Cyrus and his song Trail of Tears is my all time favorite song. My favorite color is black. I’m different and weird in a lot more ways than that but I truly think that everybody should be who they truly are, embrace the things that make them them and not worry about any community opinions or they will never ever find happiness. The community might not accept you but there will always be people in YOUR community who will love you for who you are.
I think I might be the “Ben” to whom you are responding. I seem to remember fragments of my original question, but can’t quite remember it in its entirety. But before I respond, I suppose I should ask for two clarifications.
1) What was the original question?
2) When you said:
“It is possible that, as your question suggested this focus upon ourselves has given us a “decreased threshold for discomfort, pain and suffering.” It seems to me the implied part of your question is to move away from our “increased individualism,” and towards an increased emphasis upon community.”
… what do you mean by “us” and “our”? I get the impression from your response that we might not be operating with the same understanding of those words. The community in which I so abysmally fit (both locally and historically) addresses these questions and concerns in a way that is particular to that community, and potentially in a way that is nonsensical to other communities.
For instance, it seems you would also say that Jesus should have left Jerusalem before his noble community killed him, even if that meant facing the world alone. While this sentiment makes logical sense to many individuals, there are communities who narrate the existence of Jesus Christ in such a way that gives it a unique meaning, not only to Christ but also to those who confess to be in “community” with him.
Another interesting note: in your last sentence you used the word “should”…
Perhaps a brief bio from Dr. Bear would afford me a bit more context from which to respond. For instance, what is your milieu?
Ben, I apologize that it has taken so long to get back to you; I was in Chattanooga for the weekend, and I actually wrote this essay in two parts and wanted to finish the second part before I read your questions.
The question, as you had originally posed it was: “Is there a correlation between Western society’s increased individualism, and their decreased threshold for discomfort, pain and suffering?”
The simple answer would be: If there is a decreased threshold for discomfort, pain, and suffering among members of Western societies, I believe it is probably due to our situations of material comfort rather than due to social factors. Since we suffer less on a regular basis, we have a lower threshold for it. Those who suffer more—even in our culture—have a higher threshold; the endurance I have found among the chronically ill, or in cancer centers, or dialysis centers continues to astound me.
This, however, is rather brief, too brief for a weekly column.
The “we” & “us” is Western society. If I am going to be critical of a culture, I feel it is important to recognize how tied to that culture I am and not begin an “us vs. them” kind of discussion. So, to answer a question about “Western society’s increased individualism,” I see it as a question about our increased individualism; I certainly am a member of Western society, and a product of its increased individualism.
Socrates discusses his reasons for not leaving Athens at length, and the core of his argument is his relationship to the community of Athens. While there are certain parallels with Jesus, it seems to me that Jesus had other reasons for choosing to accept his death sentence, none of which involved validating the authority of the community which the Sanhedrin represented. It follows that what Jesus should have chosen to do and what Socrates should have chosen to do are not as closely related as their situations might suggest.
I will try to talk a little bit more about community in tonight’s entree, and I trust we will continue this discussion after that.