American Individualism

[GregW]

Schools are set up to produce the worker bees that staff the factory and the business office. The lemmings that take and follow orders so corporate can make ever more money. Individualistic thinking, or thinking at all, is not appreciated by management that have been selected for their ability to force group think on the lesser members of the herd.

Individuals and innovate thinkers disturb the flow and are discouraged as much as possible.

[Visvaldis]

Originally Posted by GregW

Schools are set up to produce the worker bees that staff the factory and the business office. The lemmings that take and follow orders so corporate can make ever more money. Individualistic thinking, or thinking at all, is not appreciated by management that have been selected for their ability to force group think on the lesser members of the herd.

Individuals and innovate thinkers disturb the flow and are discouraged as much as possible.

Great post!
Yes, the schools will educate the masses with the skills and attitudes they will need to compete with each other. All to the benefit of those on top.
The group-think of the herd is maintained by the media; mostly hollow entertainment with hardly anything to stimulates minds.
Our robot society is a great example of a herd that lacks creativity and imagination.
Too many believe that selfishness is individuality.
Instead of individualism, loyal herd members strive for status within the herd. People rate each other by their cars, homes, professional titles, trophy wives, bank accounts, etc.

[Thaskateguy]

We have become a shallow plastic society---just as was predicted we would, back in the 60s. We are the people we were warned about.

[Michael Di Meo]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Do you have any examples or is this a directionless rant?

Use your imagination... I think the responses have been quite good.
Which is what I would expect in the "Great Debates" section...
My verdict so far:
-Do not confuse selfishness with individualism (good post)
-Selfishness can manifest itself collectively by rating oneself within the herd mentality (another good post)
-Americans are not individualists, generally speaking (general conclusion).

Yes, it seems that individualism is looked down upon...
But if everyone one is being selfish, we'll follow that herd.

So, what were you saying about a directionless rant?
Oh, that's right you need some examples in order to analyze it better?

[Thaskateguy]

I had no trouble following the various opinions. They made sense to me.