I hear these comments for not wanting to help people, and it feels like we’re worshipping individuality to the detriment of community, which is necessary for survival.

  • “I don’t want my money going to ___ .”
  • “This is not a democracy, it’s a constitutional republic!”
  • “You don’t have any freedoms under socialism/communism.”
  • “They’re just looking for a handout because they’re lazy.”
  • “I’m a self-made man. I didn’t need anyone’s help.”
  • “Empathy is not a virtue.”
  • “I don’t see how that’s my problem.”
  • SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world
    1·
    5 minutes ago

    Yes. We have become a nation of de facto sovereign citizens. The average American thinks of nothing past the crummy job, the soul breaking commute, the mortgage, and another Ben Franklin for the third star on the fourth stripe on little Ayngylynn’s tae kwon do white belt. Frank Freeway and Susie Soccermom are too wrapped up in themselves to care what kind of people we are.

    Back in 1997, my sociology professor said the US would become the meanest society in history. And OMFFSM, I see it everywhere. There’s no more sense of community or even common courtesy. Hurt the other guy or get hurt. Violence over small things will soon be commonplace and inescapable. We will all have to be armed, much as we may hate it. This is all by design.

  • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    2·
    45 minutes ago

    Some of that is dumbfuckism. Constitutional republics are democracies, for example.

    Some of those sentiments have always existed & come across as though you were born yesterday.

    While socialism is a broad term, communism usually refers to communist states, which are authoritarian regimes that even in theory reject universal individual rights/liberties. Non-authoritarian socialism is something else.

    People have a duty to beneficence. However, plenty of people lazily toss empathy around as an argument from outrage fallacy instead of bothering to build a more credible & persuasive argument. Listeners get sick of that fast & don’t mind if you think of them as monsters: they certainly don’t care about your poorly argued opinions.

    So, that could be deprogramming or it could be ineffective discussion breakdowns. I don’t think empathy requires programming. I’d think its rejection require reprogramming.

    Individualism doesn’t necessarily mean selfishness. As pointed out elsewhere, collectivism can also lead to oppressive injustices.

  • verdi@feddit.org
    16·
    6 hours ago

    It’s by design.

    The spread of the superhero (Übermenschen) to ubiquity in pop culture, especially Hollywood, the punishing and assumption of evil within destitute people, the indoctrination of children (pledge of allegiance et al), the selective curricula that largely keep the general education from showing the populace of the US that their country is more closely related to a self styled African dictatorship than a modern social democracy. Usanians frequently utter “it’s not personal, it’s business”. That is the hallmark of declining hegemon and roughly translates to “fuck you, got mine”.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    273·
    20 hours ago

    It’s not innate…

    Innately humans are just animals. It takes effort to get people on the same page that cooperating is usually best

    But we stopped teaching kids that in school 20 years ago.

    That’s the sad truth about it. It’s not that the right corrupted a generation, just that between them an the neoliberals, no one wanted to help them. They both wanted brain dead tribalism because that’s what their mutual donors want

    It honestly shouldn’t be that hard for everyone to follow the string back to "no child left behind’ but I remember pointing out this would happen 30 years ago, and I thought it was obvious back then too.

    • DillDough@lemmy.zip
      5·
      4 hours ago

      Animals work together very easily and frequently actually, same and different species, even things called symbiotic relationships. That argument is proving your point wrong and indicating that most hatred is indoctrination.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        3 hours ago

        And they’re socialized for that too…

        Take a social animal, raise it in isolation, and it will be almost impossible for it to integrate in a group after released as an adult…

        You’ve never seen any of the videos of wildlife rehab hiding the fact that they’re human from an animal?

    • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
      12·
      18 hours ago

      But who’s the us and who’s the them? And why would a distinction necessarily force us to commit murder?!

      If you decide on anything superficial (race and tribe, for instance), the bonds will be easily broken and the people will be easily manipulated. If you pick something like character and ideology, you can have a wider circle (these things are more flexible) and if you dislike the out group it is for actual reasons like a major moral disagreement and not the amount of melanin.

  • Artisian@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    17 hours ago

    Annoyed to report: successful and long standing communes/communities seem to all be highly selective, at least initially.

    If you’ve got good examples that contradict this, please share.

    • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
      4·
      16 hours ago

      Of course they are, they’re full and doing great lol

      I might be starting one soon with mostly family… It’s a long shot, but I’d interview you then the time comes if you want. No promises

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
      2·
      17 hours ago

      I feel like examples that prove it using some standard definitions are a prerequisite to that conversation.

      Without standard definitions such as selection method/criterium and controlling for variables such as external factors your basically asking me to refute apples with oranges.

  • MSBBritain@lemmy.world
    91·
    21 hours ago

    First they made you fear someone, then they told you they lived down the street.

    Debatable how deliberate that was, but it’s certainly not not what they wanted…