Individualism, a hallmark characteristic of what it means to be an American, may also be our societal Achilles' Heel. According to a story titled, "Americans Don't Understand Others", from LiveScience.com:
"Rugged American individualism could hinder our ability to understand other peoples' point of view, a new study suggests.
And in contrast, the researchers found that Chinese are more skilled at understanding other people's perspectives, possibly because they live in a more "collectivist" society.
"This cultural difference affects the way we communicate," said study co-author and cognitive psychologist Boaz Keysar of the University of Chicago."
In response to my last column, a reader took me to task over my my closing comment, where I said, "It's often trumpeted that America is the 'most religious nation in the world'. I'm not sure what that means exactly, but, in my experience, we're the least spiritual society on the planet". He asked if I had, in fact, visited enough of the planet to make such a statement. It's funny, because after I sent out the column, I wished I had reworded that to say something more credible, but I hit the send button a bit too soon. I was redeemed soon after, when another reader commented that he'd been all around the world and agreed with my hyperbole wholeheartedly. Now, back to this week's column.
On the C-Span morning call-in program, Washington Journal, the topic for comment last week was "Is America the greatest country in the world?". Inspired by the common retort from most presidential candidates, that they feel compelled to remind their audiences that America is top of the world's pops. It's a notion that makes my skin crawl. I can understand that things are better here than in Turkmenistan, for instance. But what makes America better than France, Spain, New Zealand, or any other free country? Considering America's standing in the world these days, and our disappearing middle class, I'm sure there's a country that could give us a run for our money (Canada, perhaps?). More importantly, why do we have to think of ourselves as better than anyone, and how does that get measured anyway? Like everything else in this country, I bet it's a quantitative evaluation. Yes, we have more. And my dad can kick your dad's ass.
When I was a kid I felt repulsed and alienated by the overly competitive nature of American life. I hated playing team sports at summer camp. The notion that there had to be winners and losers was depressing to me. It made no sense whatsoever, and felt totally uncivilized. Yet, winning is the fuel that powers our whole society. Winning the World Series, Miss America, American Idol. Winning, itself, has become an American addiction. And losing makes the rest of us want to get drunk.
In my teens I began to explore Buddhist philosophy and was taken by the contrasting views of a "leader" between Eastern and Western thought. In the West, we think of a leader as the head of a group. While in the East, they view a leader as the center of a group. What struck me about the differing perspectives was how the Eastern approach felt less egocentric, less about the individual. Something in that resonated with me.
To be sure, America's individualistic and competitive spirit has given birth to many positive and worthwhile developments and advancements in technology and medicine. But, as capitalism, left unchecked and unbridled, goes corrupt, individualism turns egotistical, and competitive spirit becomes outright greed.
Ultimately, individualism separates us from connection to community, local and abroad. This is not a new notion. In 1835, in his book, "Democracy in America", Alexis DeTocqueville wrote, "Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself".
Like ancient Rome, we had a good run for the first two hundred years, or so. But, it appears, our strongest qualities have turned against us, and we're too blinded to see beyond our xenophobic and self-destructive lives to do anything about it, but watch ourselves devolve on Reality TV. In his new book, "Are We Rome", Cullen Murphy writes, "Now gradually remove from all this any sense of public spirit or public obligation and replace it at every level of government—in the barracks, the courts, the city councils, the provincial prefectures—with an attitude of “What’s in it for me?”. Is he talking about Rome or America, or both?
John Wayne is gone. So is the Gipper. Perhaps it's time to retire our adolescent individualism, as well, and join the rest of humanity in the common spirit of compassion, love, and hope. If we really want to be great, this is how we should lead.
Craig Gordon
Us, and them,
And after all we're only ordinary men.
-Roger Waters
Read full article from LiveScience.com here:
http://www.livescience.com/health/070717_pointof_view.html
