There is an idea that society is now entering into an age of extreme individualism, that society is championing the rights of individuals at the expense of others.  This idea has been mentioned by many top Conservative thinkers, and is echoed back and forth as though it was a self-evident truth.

Superficially, it does seem to be the fact. After all, we do have innumerable examples people being chastised for not accepting deviant behaviors. Is this not proof we are living in an age of individualism gone too far? The answer is an unequivocal no!

There is no drive for acceptance of individuals, just the opposite is happening.  The reason for the rising tide of intolerance is the leftest war with traditional society, a society they see as a obstacle to their Utopian dreams. If you think individualism is afoot when a man tries to take a shower with teenage girls, and is not arrested, you are wrong. Try to wear a MAGA hat at a Berkley Social Justice rally and see how much your individualism is respected.

The truth is, even the term “extreme individualism” is an attack on our heritage, and traditional values. Individualism has been and is about respect. A recognizing that no one has the right to infringe on  the basic rights of others. It holds people should be respected, and each person other’s spaces and rights as sacred as their own. This is not what the modern left is espousing.  Bow to my whims is not individualism, it is elitism.

The acceptance of individualism bred the Victorian age, a time where respect was considered a paramount virtue. The decadence of today is not a result of individualism, but of socialism. A belief that we are all just products of our group identity, and each group is either oppressed or an oppressor. If you are a member of the first, you can do no wrong, your whims are society’s commands. If you reside in the second, you have no rights at all. Group identity is paramount, not individual desires or beliefs.

In today’s paradigm, where each person is associated with a group, each person is expected to show absolute loyalty to that group. This Rousseauian view pigeon holes people, and demonizes those that deviate from their group identity. (One must not dare be guilty of the sin of cultural appropriation.)

Marxist economics failed, so the Marxist joined with the Neo-Modernists and changed it into a social theory. The struggle is no longer between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, but within power hierarchies. With power now substituting for economics, the divisions have expanded greatly. Anyone with a beef, any claim to victimhood, or even if they are just out of step with society, can demand they be excused from norms of behavior. In such cases, their right to be inconsiderate of others is looked at as sacrosanct. A man, with inherent strength advantage over women, can go ahead and embarrass females by entering their weight lifting competitions. All he needs to do is claim to be a female and the left demands he be accepted as a woman. It is about “transgender rights” and striking a blow against traditional gender identity. The rights of the real women in the competition be damned! No matter how foolish the reason, or outrages the behavior, society must bend to the whimsical demands of the poor disparaged person whose group is identified as a victim. 

In short, it is not individualism at fault here but socialism. It is Social Justice run amok, and not some sort of extreme individualism, that is the philosophy behind increasingly outrages behaviors. All must bend to the demands of the oppressed, even if it means others are victimized in the process.

“The Conservative Mind”

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