"And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner. The word which will not die, should we all perish in battle. The word which can never die on this earth, for it is the heart of it and the meaning and the glory.
The sacred word: EGO"
Powerful words from an equally powerful novella. For the few reading this that may not have read "Anthem", it's an absolute must read, and is my personal favorite from Ayn Rand.
The concept of the individual seems to be on the chopping block everywhere you look these days. Children are encouraged to conform to their own "cliques", adults choose sports teams, political parties, social clubs, and other groups. The television is full of charismatic people we follow religiously. Everyone's concerned about which celebrity married who, who divorced who, what talking head is spouting what, who's wearing those shoes. The problem runs much deeper than that, though.
We are born into a world that is designed for its creatures to be individuals. Each one of them must follow its own unique path. Some will succeed, others will fail. It is the natural course of life. Individuality fosters natural selection, and allows the best path for survival. Why, then, is the course of human society leaning toward the side of collectivization and forced equality? If individuality is natural, it cannot be a natural tendency. Today, I'll explain why the existence of a state is fostering an unnatural push for equality.
One of the most remarkable things about human beings is that we are able to think for ourselves. We can form our own opinions, think our own thoughts, and use our own judgment to make our own decisions. Throughout human history, the norm has been for one party to subjugate the majority of the population. They've tried direct force, trickery, and subterfuge. Today's human farmers have stumbled upon the best system for subjugation yet devised: Mentally condition the livestock into believing they ARE individuals, while still remaining under the influence of the state, and you will never have to worry about anyone asking questions.
You may say, "But I am an individual! I have followed a unique life path and have chosen things for me that nobody else has!". However, if I were to raise you in a chamber with many, many rooms(but no windows) and allow you to go anywhere you wanted in the chamber, you'd eventually forget that there was a life outside the chamber at all. This is what is in place today. We are born, we enter our "clique" in high school, we start backing the red or blue guys in college, we choose our favorite football team, and we pick our career. During this time, we have focused so much on making sure we don't "hang out with nerds" or "argue with a stupid liberal", that we forget that there are ways to live our lives completely off the map. We've successfully lost our individuality to the collective mind, and the worst thing about it is that we don't even realize it. We THINK we are unique, but we are not.
Socially, collectivization just leads to a loss of creativity and creative thinking, but it is indicative of a much larger problem.In the United States, the government has given you two major political parties to rally behind. The majority of the "politically-minded" sector of America believes you're either a Democrat or a Republican. When you're passionate for either party, you tend to associate with like-minded peers. You proclaim that you are a "liberal" or a "conservative". You vote, you pay your taxes, and you loudly shout the slogans you hear. Because you're focused on what this politician is doing for your side of the race, you've become so domesticated that you don't even ask the proper questions in the first place. And most startlingly, you've completely forgotten that you're "voting" for two sides of the exact same coin.
With these political parties, the state has furthered its own interest(the collection of taxes) by completely indoctrinating you to not even think that there ARE any other options. "Majority rule", "Spread the wealth", "Tax the rich", "Flat taxes for all!". All are slogans you hear daily from a statist. The public doesn't even begin to consider things like "Why do we need taxes in the first place?". Such things don't belong in a society where collectivization is king.
Religion is another polarizing factor. You go to church, mosque, temple, synagogue... You follow the book of your choice. You pick your side, join your group, and persecute who doesn't agree with you. In each case, the human need to be right has been manipulated by the state and by the leaders of religion to be more important than the human need to be an individual.
Wake up. You've lost the most valuable thing you own: your individual spirit. Your ego. It's time to reclaim it. Begin to ask questions. Think for yourself. Learn as much as you can about the world, especially the stuff the state does not want you to learn about. When you're part of a group/party/team, you sacrifice your indivuality and become leveled out to be equal with everyone else. All of life shouldn't be that way.
Working with others is great, but don't become others. Be yourself. Don't let the state take that.
And again, I implore you: If you haven't already, read Anthem. You won't be disappointed.
EDIT: "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." -Noam Chomsky
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