<strong>rugged individualism – individualism in social and economic affairs; belief not only in personal liberty and self-reliance but also in free competition.
individualism – a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence
The historian Howard Zinn noticed that the promotion of individualism over community has always been and is now the most powerful tool the powerful employ to anesthetize the “sleeping giant.”
The myth of “the indispensable man” (B.F. Skinner; ” Beyond Freedom and Dignity):
“An Army of one”
Dr. Who
James Bond
Xena
Tarzan
John Wayne
50 Cents (“Get rich or die trying”)
Each with our individual I-pods, cell phones and hermetically sealed lives: all plugged into the consumption grid. The “revolution may not be televised”, but I can almost guarantee it will be commercialized. Hell, I am sure they will milk a video game or two out of it. As a kid I though Sam Elliot was too cool; I dug the “Marlboro Man” so much I became a life long smoker. That’s it, just dreaming of a better world with better possibilities.