To add to my previous post, if we look at some recent (over the last several decades) major cultural and social effects/events, we can see the following:
Universal health care - USA is decades behind most First World nations and also some less advanced nations.
Gun control - ditto.
Abortion health sense - ditto.
Voting laws and procedures - over one hundred years behind Australia.
Minimum wage -USA way behind Australia (and also with working conditions).
Metrication - USA behind most of world.
Plastic (polymer) banknotes - Australia first in 1988; dozens of other countries since then, but not the USA.
Home pool safety fence laws - 1990 in Australia; in a few states in USA.
Vehicle mandatory seat belt laws, and laws against smoking in public places - Australia and USA both have comparable laws.
So your argument is that the lack of government regulation is evidence of USA being collectivists?
I'd say it proves the exact opposite
Individualism leads to greater social stress, but also greater social dynamism
I don’t think anyone thinks freedom is easy. Nietzsche's spiel about slave morality is that being a slave is easier and more comfortable than being free.
Most people just use their freedom to chose a master to submit to. Americans certainly prove that hypothesis
There is no correlative nor causative relationship between government regulations and collectivism. A chaotic mob is not individualistic but highly collective. Nor is there any relationship between fake individualism and social dynamism.
Your last statement (the
bolded bit) admits that USA is a slave culture, which is opposite your initial claim of fawning admiration for American "individualism"
There is one social innovation that America is well known for, and it shows that innovations aren't always positive, and this is evangelism, specifically fundamentalist prosperity gospel, which has the offshoot of MAGA. The adherents of these often have the moniker of sheeple applied to them, as they are the opposite of individualistic.
No, they are very individualistic. Thinking you have it all figured out is a mark of individualism. That's exactly what evangelical Christianity is.
Collectism means that you are unsure about what you want and trust that others know better what is good for you than you do.
In a collectivistic culture other people's business is your business. And vice versa.
I think you haven't understood what I mean.
Collectivism also extends love and care to the whole in-group. Which can be an entire nation.
In Scandinavia we think socialism is so obviously good we can't even imagine a scenario without it.
The problem with understanding collectivism vs individualism is that you really need to have lived and worked in both types of cultures to get it
We're all blind to our cultures peculiarities
I used to work with Indians (in Sweden, at IKEA). Another collectivist culture. Endless culture clashes.
The nice thing about individualistic cultures is that culture mixing has relatively low friction
Overall, individualistic cultures is better imho. But both have pros and cons
There is an obvious thing that I missed mentioning before. Americans are amongst the most indoctrinated people in the world. An example is the pledge of allegiance, which they mindlessly utter all the time. Many of them march in lockstep to the tune of the media (which is mainly right-wing) and populist leaders.
Thinking you have it all figured out is not individualism, especially as regards false or unproven beliefs, but another example of non-rational, brainwashed behaviour and "thinking".
As regards the
bolded bit, the US has a weird identity issue in that people identify as Republican or Democrat, truly individualistic peoples such as Australians do not indulge in this peculiarity. In the USA they love being in other people's business, hence the Republican Party interfering in private issues such as abortion, gerrymandering, and many other things that are evidence of anti-individual proto-communist behaviour.
Sweden is not socialist, it is like every civilized nation a combination of what can be labelled socialist and capitalist ideas, but they are just labels and not totally accurate. Tribal peoples from tens of thousands of years ago weren't socialist, but many of the ways they lived by were communal. It was why they managed to become the dominant species.
Your total admiration of the USA is not individualistic itself, and is typical of what Americans think of themselves, without critical self-examination. There is no such thing as an individualistic culture, and if there were the USA is one of the furthest from it, being one of the most collectivist cultures in the world.
You say that one has to have lived in both types of cultures to "get it". As far as individualistic cultures go, Australia is much closer to that "ideal" than USA is. Your statement has at least confirmed for me the previous thought that I have had that you are an American living in Sweden. Most Americans have been brainwashed to believe that their nation is the best in the world, and so much better at everything than everyone else. That is the opposite of individualism. Yes, truly Americans are blind to all the peculiarities and faults of their own nation. That strong identification with their nation is another example of their collectivism - "USA, USA, USA".
EDIT: In my list comparing USA and rest of world I mentioned abortion. The laws and regulations in other countries aren't designed to restrict human rights regarding this but to enhance it. My state of Western Australia recently passed new laws improving already existing rights for women. See following quote:
Western Australia's new abortion laws are now in effect, cementing access to equitable and improved healthcare for women across the State. The new laws
decriminalise abortion, remove clinically unnecessary barriers for women and bring Western Australia in line with other Australian jurisdictions.
Quite a contrast to "individualistic" America.
