I’ve been thinking about how in the US we have largely settled on a cultural notion of “freedom” that equates to radical individualism, and that is a tremendous liability for a nation of 340 million.
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Yes!!! It’s horrible for everything from mental health to national stability and the concept of democracy itself! This almost libertarian reverence for “you can’t tell me what to do” has sunk nearly everything of communal importance especially since the late 1990s-early 2000s (at least).
There are so many problems we are unable to solve because people will absolutely lose their shit about their freedoms if you ask them to e.g. wear a mask. Public health is almost impossible to deal with.
And that’s just an example. So many issues require public solutions and can’t ever be solved by a mass of individuals making individual decisions. This is a basic economic puzzle (called the collective action problem).
Historically, “freedom” has meant a lot of different things to different people in different times and places. But right now we are completely paralyzed by this one.
I don’t have an answer for this. Well, I do: messaging, propaganda, and education. But nobody has a will for it, so it’s probably going to get worse not better. 🫠
The transition from “the public” towards “the private” is fascinating to me. If I were more resourced, i’d love to do an architectural history on how our buildings reflect this value change. (I’m sure this history exists, I just haven’t done the legwork yet): https://bsky.app/profile/stangr.bsky.social/post/3ljppwkvzs22f
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