05-07-2015, 08:51 AM
Magda Hassan Wrote:Martin White Wrote:I once heard an argument - from an "ordinary" worker - "Why should I pay [through higher taxes], because I am employed, for healthcare for some bum who can't be bothered to get a job?" Is that still a common view among voters in the US?
Individualism is a view that is pushed and promoted and propagandised everywhere there and which permeates every level of US society. It is basic to the continuance and survival of an unjust and oppressive system. Divide and rule. Us and them. Me me me me me. I me myself and I. You can become president. You can be a millionaire. American exceptionalism. You to are exceptional. And if you don't make it it is because there is something lacking in you and not the system. Individualism versus individuality. It is unhealthy and stops people seeing the common humanity of others. Libertarian politics wallows in this. As does most American mythology. It is all about separating people into isolated manageable atoms. The biggest fear of TPTB is an effective organised opposition to their continued scamming. Billions of $ go into diverting that rage. Promotion of individualism pays off very well. Keeps every one suspicious of each other instead of looking at the bigger picture.
I so much agree with you Maggie, it's alarming. It's one of the things about the US that is so obvious once your eyes are attuned to these things. The US is radically anti society and, as a consequence, anti human.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14