Nature is cruel ( part two)

[chic]

Herd mentality vs progressive individualism - which do you subscribe to?

Though valid arguments can be presented extolling the successes of both practices, I believe that the herd mentality, doing the same thing in the same way over and over again for the sake of preserving the status quo is outmoded and outdated. It has successfully preserved the lives of animals both of the lower orders and humans for eons. That's unarguable.

But individualism, can propel the world towards democracy and equality which IMO is more progressive. My country, the U.S.A., would not exist were it not for a handful of individual thinkers and leaders in the 18th century. The age of enlightenment never could have happened. And individualism brought down the bars and stars (confederate flag) from atop the statehouse in SC and folded it away into the archives of history. Individualism breaks shackles freeing people from the yoke of oppression.

Discuss? Agree?

 

[AZ Jim]

Addressing only the last point, the idea of a state continuing to flaunt a horror such as slavery by virtue of flying that flag is repugnant. I appreciate the "dual" significances of it, but the one element, slavery trumps any other justification. It's high time the South came to the realization that they lost the civil war and their way of life should have changed with it.

 

[Lon]

How can it be called Individualism if what you do and say merely reflects what others do and say with out dissent, as in the case of our FORE FATHERS in the late 18th century.

 

[chic]

Addressing only the last point, the idea of a state continuing to flaunt a horror such as slavery by virtue of flying that flag is repugnant. I appreciate the "dual" significances of it, but the one element, slavery trumps any other justification. It's high time the South came to the realization that they lost the civil war and their way of life should have changed with it.

Absolutely agree, Jim. I thought also of Mahatma Ghandi who was an original enlightened individual who helped free an entire nation. What about him?

 

[SifuPhil]

Absolutely agree, Jim. I thought also of Mahatma Ghandi who was an original enlightened individual who helped free an entire nation. What about him?

You mean the guy who in 1909 claimed:

“India’s salvation ... consists in unlearning what she has learnt during the past fifty years. The railways, telegraphs, hospitals, lawyers, doctors, and such like have all to go.”

And the guy who slept with his grand-niece to test his ability to not have erections? The guy who failed to change anything with his threats to starve himself?