@druid easily divided compared to the east as well, because the west has learned how to be superficially individualist (which attributes a lot of the infighting to which you refer) whereas the east has always had more of a team mentality and stable semblance of hierarchy
@wowaname Tbh THIS is what I consider the Chinese propaganda narrative. I refuse to see individualism as a source of weakness. I think a society can ONLY work when it is pluralistic. Collectives are strong because they are diverse, not because they are homogeneous. No, I'm not talking about race, I'm talking about nature and calling. A highly focused fascist state like China has no slack and thus no lateral evolution. They can win an arms race, but when they do, they'll just flood the world with homogeneous sludge.
@druid individualism is great, hence why i had to distinguish it from (at least) the usa's superficial treatment of it. it's the kind of trap that makes people think they don't have to work together to get shit done and build functional orgs and communities
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@wowaname @druid I think a lot of people get individualism wrong. They conflate it with Ayn Rand's Objectivism in which that you should only act within your self-interest (so donating to a charity that doesn't benefit you would be considered morally wrong). In reality very few individualists consider themselves to be Objectivists. Ayn Rand had a lot of great influence on modern libertarianism, but her talking points as is, are considered obsolete.
