Submitted By: Mike Spindell. Guest Blogger
Mythology can be seen as the social glue of diverse groups. It is the accumulation of tales, beliefs, moral strictures and mores that gives a specific population a sense of homogeneity, allowing it to exist with synergy. This is true of nations, ethnic groups, religions and even political movements. One of the defining conditions in our nation is that we are one of the most diverse on this planet when it comes to religions and ethnicities. All of our original thirteen states came into existence via individual peculiarities of settlers, religious sects, slavery, climate and the spoils system of colonialism. About a third of the citizens of those thirteen colonies, of the nascent United States, chafed under foreign domination and engendered a rebellion against the British Empire’s exploitation. Among that fractional populace, there fortunately resided a group of the colonies wealthiest citizens and greatest minds. The rebellion succeeded and a decade later a government emerged created by the novelty of a Constitution delineating how it was to be run.
As improbable as the rebellion against the world’s greatest power might have seemed, the ongoing success of this enterprise is even more of an improbability. From the beginning most citizens saw themselves as attached more to their individual states, than to the Federal Government. The subsequent history of this country is well-known, but what I think often gets missed is that the history as we know it is mostly a creation of an American mythology, which has given consistency to this diverse enterprise and served to inculcate waves of immigrants into seeing themselves as part of America. While a nation’s mythology may serve it as “social glue” it can also contain within it seeds of social dysfunction. What follows is my take on the American Myth of the “Rugged Individualist” and why though it may have had initial utilitarian value; it has become cancerous within our country and may lead to the disintegration of America as we know it.
The initial inspiration for this piece came from this source: http://www.nationofchange.org/right-s-sham-religion-rugged-individualism-1355328952 and it is an article well worth reading. Robert Becker’s OpEd in The Nation of Change “The Right’s Sham Religion of Rugged Individualism” presents an excellent short essay. Rather than sprinkle this essay with quotations I urge you to read it, while I spin off in a less political direction. The study of Mythology in the tradition of Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves, Sir James George Frazer and Richard Slotkin has been a lifelong avocation of mine. Using Mr. Becker’s article as a kind of muse, I will look at “rugged individualism” from my synthesis of the ideas I’ve absorbed through the years. I first touched on this theme on 7/22/11 in this guest blog: http://jonathanturley.org/2011/07/23/the-american-quest-for-empire/#more-37487 and it is an insight that influences much of the way I view America’s current situation.
“Rugged Individualism definition:
The belief that all individuals, or nearly all individuals, can succeed on their own and that government help for people should be minimal. The phrase is often associated with policies of the Republican party and was widely used by the Republican president Herbert Hoover. The phrase was later used in scorn by the Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman to refer to the disasters of Hoover’s administration, during which the stock market Crash of 1929 occurred and the Great Depression began.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rugged+individualism
While it is true that Herbert Hoover is given credit for the coinage and usage of the words “rugged individualism”, in my view the concept and connotation of these words goes further back into American history as a mythological theme. With the advent of the “Social Darwinist” philosophical movement, that “pseudo-science” lent credence to the concept and helped blend it into the common wisdom of the country.
One way to view history is from a conspiratorial perspective. While I do think there have been many conspiracy’s that have indeed influenced the course of human events, I think that to view them as the result of evil cabals plotting their execution is to be naive as to the way we humans act and think. It is certainly true that the NAZI’s in Germany and the Communists in the USSR, conspired to gain power and then used propaganda to create national mythologies that were ultimately destructive in nature. Similarly, FDR’s Administration used ideology, and mythology to create propaganda to defend against these foreign forces. My thinking is that propaganda and its creator’s, no matter how cynical, ultimately starts out with a set of mythological beliefs, sincerely understood to be ultimate truths by the propagandists. Julius Streicher and then Joseph Goebbels of the NAZI Party really believed that Jews were an evil plague upon humanity and then created propaganda to convince others of its truth. The unexamined acceptance of mythology, common wisdom if you will, is perhaps a person’s greatest handicap in trying to understand the world they live in.
Central to American mythology is the idea of the “rugged individualist” as the driving force behind our country’s success. This myth holds that all of American progress came through the exertions of extraordinary men, going their own way, charting their own courses and bringing the rest of the populace along with them as followers of their iconoclastic natures. We have the legends of Daniel Boone, “Johnny Appleseed” and Paul Bunyan to represent how individualists helped spread the White Man in his quest to claim all of our “manifest destiny”. Like most mythology the process of the accretion of heroic stature onto real people came from a need to find “men” the populace could emulate and follow. This need came from the loose alliance of business and political interests seeking to make this country into a world power and seeking to exploit the bounty of its natural resources as they each pursued their selfish interests.
In the Revolutionary War we saw the creation of heroic myths used to rally people to the cause and then glorify the revolution to a population that did not overwhelmingly support it. Once the battle had been won a national mythology was needed to make this collection of localities and populations coherent. Think of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys in upper New England. Remember Nathan Hale’s speech on the gallows; Sam Adams radically rousing the people of Boston; Paul Reveres’ Ride; “The Shot Heard Round the World”; and of course the Boston Tea Party. These people and instances, along with the individual mythology surrounding the wisdom of our “Founding Father’s”, were used as a common mythology to take a collection of diverse localities and meld them into a national whole. That there was much truth to the fact of the extraordinary talents of some of these individuals does not diminish their mythological aspect, merely it enhances it.
To briefly bring us forward in time we see the mythology of the “rugged individualist” as the driving force of the American success story throughout our subsequent history. Behind that of course, is the belief in “great men” doing “heroic deeds” as being those who impel history, leading along the rest of us who lack their stature. We see this mythmaking in the “Taming of The West”; in the Civil War; in our “Industrial Revolution”, in fact this theme of individual greatness runs through the entire history of this country and to illustrate it let me just list a bunch of names and allow you to conjure the images these names produce:
Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Sam Houston, Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, George Armstrong Custer, John Jacob Astor, Eli Whitney, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, Teddy Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, FDR, Dwight D. Eisenhower, JFK, MLK, RFK, Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
I’m sure as you read these names all of them are familiar to you, but beyond that familiarity there comes to your mind a back-story that is full of detail. Though all of these were real people, they have already passed into American Mythology because of the mental associations you have with them and the partially mythologized detail of their particular life stories. I specifically chose those names because all of them can be associated with “rugged individualism”, American History, American Progress and the belief that great “Men” impel progress. The “Great Man” theme is certainly not unique to our country; it is in fact a common thread throughout humanity. Where America has taken this theme though, in the minds of many powerful political and economic forces in this country, is into the sense of “rugged individualism” representing the backbone of the “great men” who drive our history and create the mythology of “American Exceptionalism”.
If you accept “rugged individualism”, as exemplified by “Great Men”, as the driving force of progress and growth of our society, then logically it is to the needs of these “great men” that we must all cater. We see the truth of this today in the popularity of the works of Ayn Rand and the pervasive influence of libertarian philosophy. Viewing issues from this perspective leads one to the conclusion that any attempt by the government (or society) to restrain the individual rights of any person, or corporate entity, creates stifling counter-productive effects on our country. If we are all merely individuals ultimately responsible to ourselves, then we must be the sole guardians of our personal interests, without any mediation from the “nanny state”.
In this past election there was a recurring theme of much Republican and Libertarian argument that is the outgrowth of the “rugged individualism” mythology. The counterpoint between the people who “produced” for our economy and the 47% of those who merely took from it was put forth repeatedly. The idea of the entrepreneur as the modern “rugged individualist” hero creating wealth for all of us, was so common as to be a “given” in much political debate. Even the ultimate representative of collectivist bureaucracy, the Corporation, was seen from a “rugged individualist’s” perspective; since they were run by “entrepreneurial hero” CEO’s, who with their strength of leadership and wisdom provided for their workers.
I believe that the idea of the “rugged individual”, seen through the lens of American History, is not only dangerous but utterly false. I assert that it is contrary to the history of humanity from pre-historic ages unremembered. Humans are by nature “social” animals and humanity’s ascension to dominance on this planet is the result of building societies of ever greater complexity. Yes, to be sure, the actions of great individuals have spurred progress and change for better or worse, but all change occurs limned by the social structure where it occurs. We have had “great people”, geniuses perhaps, moving us forward via innovation due to their thinking outside the box. Yet this genius was nurtured in a particular social context that allowed it to grow. Michelangelo was a genius in his time, but his time included Leonardo Da Vinci and was after all “The Renaissance”. Sir Isaac Newton was a singular genius, but then too Gottfried Liebnitz was his contemporary and their time was the beginning of the “Enlightenment”. Thomas Edison was a genius electrical inventor, but his contemporary of no mean skills and accomplishments was Nikola Tesla and their time was the height of the “Industrial Revolution”.
Despite common belief to the contrary, Henry Ford invented neither the automobile, nor the “assembly line”, but he certainly helped to perfect both, again in the context of an ongoing “Industrial/Technological” Revolution. I celebrate the “individual” who has the ability to think counter to the myths they are born with and who strives to introduce new ways of looking at the world. For better, or ill, I’ve tried to act that way in my own life, so I certainly am no justifier of collective thought and action. Yet no matter how much I would like to believe that I am not the product of my heredity, my social milieu and the country of my birth, I must accept that all of those elements and many more shaped me.
The specious philosophy of “rugged individualism” has caused much ill to this country. It has lent itself to the companion myth of “American Exceptionalism”, because the thinking goes that with our “ruggedly individualistic” natures this country has been raised above all others and it is our destiny to enforce our hegemony. This myth has actually allowed us to create a mythology similar to the mythologies created in countries with overwhelming ethnic homogeneity, like Hitler’s Aryan purity premise in Germany, French “cultural superiority” and/or the Serbs vs. the Croats and vice versa.
We humans do have a need for mythology as a means of establishing societal connectivity. At the same time though, when we allow ourselves to become blinded by the myths we live by, we lose the ability to see our world clearly enough to make logical decisions on the issues that we face. To me the scariest thing about politics in the world today is that our discussions and our debates are muddied by mythological premises to such an extent that we can’t hear other points of view, or allow ourselves to consider them. While this has been generally true throughout human history, our species has never had the power before to destroy everything and everyone. Because of that destructive ability it is imperative that we look beyond our myths to see our present world as it really is. We are on the brink of so many disasters like climate change, over-population and water shortage, that we must seek means of dealing with them. Yet due to the inhalation of various counter productive mythologies we merely talk at each other, allowing events to overwhelm us, as we remain in a state of inaction.
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
Bev, Thanks, I try my best being a poor reader and non-Ivy Leaguer.
rafflaw, Yes he was. However, he needed help..he needed “his village” as you like to quote. But, they figured “we paid him to do this job” and left him alone to fight the bad guys. I guess that’s the dynamic you covet? Sometimes the village are cowards and lazy and it takes a strong, courageous person to stand up to evil. This is really pretty basic stuff for non idealogues. I agree we need both teamwork and individuals. The individuals challenge conventional wisdom, which is a critically important component for any group, company, or society to succed. However, many yearn for the comfort of the “herd”, described poignantly by Nietzsche.
Darren, Bravo!
Wow. Would both balderdash and poppycock work to describe this article.
No
Darren:
interesting points.
isnt a rugged individualist one who just is a strong believer in individual rights? And if you are a strong believer in individual rights then you would also belive in the individual rights of others.
Individual rights are hard to secure without the force government can bring to bear on those who violate other’s rights.
The Great and Continuing Myth in Present Day America
1. That the United States Constitution is applicable to All OF THE
PEOPLE!
2. That Americans enjoy liberty and Justice
3. Liberals are good, Conservatives are evil
4. That homosexuals are automatically Good
5. Ask Jeanne M. Kincaid (State of NH lawyer) who is a Liberal and a
Lesbian
6. That only the former Soviet Union (now Russia) forced their subjects into mental hospitals…people who disagree with the political rhetoric of that society: In America this is being condoned by the Supreme Court justices
7. That Freedom of speech is an Amendment enjoyed by all: Retaliation is routine in America, condoned by the Supreme Court Justices who provide cover to State attorneys for the Constitutional and Human Rights abuses
8. That only in “Communists” countries like Russia, N. Korea China etc are people retaliated against and punished for being Conscientious Objectors: Ask Bradley Manning, Juliann Assange, attorney Richard I. Fine and hundreds of others by placing the phrase “Judicial corruption” in YouTube
9. That only the Russians, Chinese, N. Koreans etc punish INNOCENT PEOPLE BY IMPRISONMENT: INDEED YOURS TRULY WAS INCARCERATED FOR 60 DAYS SO THAT MY SON COULD BE REMOVED FROM MY CUSTODY AFTER I SOUGHT ASYLUM IN HOLLAND, MARCH THIS YEAR. I am not an American citizen, and I was forced to return here after all communications with my son was cut off, I was then imprisoned!
10. That only those countries above use THE POLICE TO HARASS AND INTIMIDATE THEIR SUBJECTS: Kincaid uses the Chicago police to harass and intimidate me everyday…even at the library, at the train station, in restaurants etc.
11. That human rights are so respected in America: This myth denies the realities that INNOCENT PEOPLE NOT ONLY ARE ROUTINELY IMPRISONED HERE, AND HAVE THEIR CHILDREN REMOVED FROM THEIR CUSTODY, BUT GOVERNMENT LAWYERS ROUTINELY SOLICIT AND CONSPIRE WITH STATE & COUNTY HOSPITALS TO MURDER THEM BY INJECTING THEM WITH MEDICATION TO STOP THEIR HEARTS: THIS IS WHAT KINCAID USED 4 DOCTORS AT STROGERS HOSPITAL TO DO TO ME WHEN I WENT TO THE ER COMPLAINING OF RESPIRATORY DISTRES…THEY WERE WORKING ME UP FOR CARDIAC DISTRESS. SHE FORGOT TO TELL THEM THAT I AM A NURSE! THERE IS A LOT MORE TO THIS!
12. IN AMERICA, CHILDREN ARE USED AS PAWNS BY MUCH OF THE JUDICIARY, AND FATHERS ARE ROUTINELY DENY THE RIGHTS TO SEE AND MAINTAIN A CONNECTION TO THEIR CHILDREN…THIS IS BLESSED BY JOHN ROBERTS AT THE SUPREME COURT
13. IN AMERICA, YOU (NOT A CITIZEN) WILL HAVE YOUR PASSPORT CONFISCATED SO THAT YOU CANNOT LEAVE, BECAUSE THE CRIMINALS DO NOT WANT FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THEIR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
PS If you try to respond here to this, Kincaid will block you…that is, unless you are on her corrupt side. Others have been informing me!
Wow. Would both balderdash and poppycock work to describe this article. While most of the responses were oohs and aahs, Nick Spinelli and Atnor wrote the most intelligent and responsive counterpoints. The nays definately have it. Mike Spindell is an “individual” unto himself.
The libertarian philosophy works for those who are strong and who have the resources to be so independent. Unfortunately, that’s not the majority. The majority seems to understand that the only way we all “make it” is if there is cooperation and sharing. There seems to be a strong libertarian bent in the Republicans these days who have no problem taking from those with less or from the government themselves for another house with a car elevator but who want to strip all help from those who need it to survive.
Mike:
Thank you for the time you spent writing this thought provoking article. My take on this, please correct me if I am wrong, is that the term Rugged Individual is one of an unworkable extreme.
I am one of those persons who believes in the importance of individuals and that the subjugation of the individual under the pretence of protecting the collective is harmful. One example:
It seems to be the prevailing topic of this blog at least, that a nation that protects the rights of each individual is necessary for the social progress of that nation in that if each individual is valued and respected in aggregate it fosters that all persons in the nation as a group will be better.
While there are obvious examples where this was not the case, it is true that in our legal system the judiciary can hold that the government violated the rights of an individual citizen and can punish the government for this. It is a situation that is not offered citizens of many repressive governments. it is rather uncommon in human history where this happens. That is, our system values the individual to such as degree that the ruling class and 300 million others are trumped by the rights of one person who was injured by the government’s actions.
I might argue that the concept, not the propaganda as you have pointed out others have abused, of the rugged individualist might stem from this attribute of American society where individuals were valued and to be respected by the government according to our constitution. The framers of this constitution had certainly argued the notion of breaking free of arbitrary rule by kings, though realistically it wasn’t effectively so until the Bill of Rights was ratified to guarantee individual liberties. It does seem natural that people can value individuality and maybe the rugged individual is probably in idealized consequence of this.
I guess my take on this would be that if all persons were extreme rugged individualists it would resemble more anarchy than society. That is “every man for himself” or similar ideas. There has to be a contribution from society to the individual for the individual to succeed in his / her own ambitions. Even oligarcs need a support basis from the masses.
Individuals should be allowed their own identities. I think we would be better off if humanity viewed itself as a collection of individuals rather than a group similar to a bee society where the individual is irrelevant and the hive is the identity. But then again there is a lot of strength and support that can be provided by the group to each individual if managed honorably.
rafflaw:
And your point is?
nick,
Wasn’t Gary Cooper’s character in High Noon a town sheriff who was paid to work for the good of the whole town?
Bron, LOL! And of course both Gary Cooper and his character are an anathema here.
“And of course both Gary Cooper and his character are an anathema here.”
Nick,
how wrong you are. “High Noon” was probably exerted the most influence on my life of any movie I’ve ever seen. I was eight years old when I saw it. A bullied kid in school and a kid who was alienated from my peers, an introvert if you will. The values taught in “High Noon” was that a person needs to do the right thing in life, even if those that were being done for didn’t support the effort. Gary Cooper was my favorite actor after Humphrey Bogart another individualist. The movie was so important in my life that I would hear its theme song, sung by Tex Ritter, in my head when ever I faced danger of being attacked and bullied. It would bring a warm powerful feeling of emotion to me and give me the courage to face up to the threats. You are just so damned caught up in your own suppositions about people that your thought process is more like a fantasy life.
nick:
High Noon.
“Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: “I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.” An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.”
An individualist is a man who says: “I will not run anyone’s life—nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave. I will not sacrifice myself to anyone—nor sacrifice anyone to myself.””
“Textbook of Americanism,”
The Ayn Rand Column, 84
“Individualism regards man—every man—as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being. Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful coexistence among men, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights—and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members.”
“Racism,”
Ayn Rand
I am not sure why not being a member of what you call the Dem club makes Russ an uber introvert. Perhaps we have a very different understanding of the word. He is neither shy nor retiring. In his politics he is very supportive of the safety net and the progressive social contract that assumes an interconnectedness that the rigged individualist myth does not. I see his view of the world as outward looking and other centered but again our disagreement such as it is may be definitional.
Interesting! The Philosophy of “Rugged Individualism” is similiar to W.E.B. Dubois’ Talented Tenth Social-Educational Philosophy (group of most educated or ‘talented’ African-Americans need to lead the rest of the African-American population). Dubois’ philosophy was predicated upon his perception of what was (and still is) transpired (or transpiring) amongst the Majority (European-American/White)Community since the beginning of the country’s existence. However, I believe our fake “Democratic” American Government and Economics system evolved from the ‘Talented Tenth” or “Rugged Individualims” into a political and economical system of Oligarchy.
“Interesting! The Philosophy of “Rugged Individualism” is similiar to W.E.B. Dubois’ Talented Tenth Social-Educational Philosophy (group of most educated or ‘talented’ African-Americans need to lead the rest of the African-American population). Dubois’ philosophy was predicated upon his perception of what was (and still is) transpired (or transpiring) amongst the Majority (European-American/White)Community since the beginning of the country’s existence.”
RWL,
This is exactly true. DuBois was exactly mirroring the Progressive Movement as exemplified by Teddy Roosevelt, except their belief was in the “White Man’s Burden”. An excellent source detailing Roosevelt’s beliefs and the beliefs of the “Progressivism” of his time is Richard Slotkin’s “Gunfighter Nation”. I never understood how far off base Teddy Roosevelt was until I read that book many years ago and it was then that I found out that being Progressive historically wasn’t always a good thing. DuBois for his part saw himself as of course one of the 10% of Black leaders a super abundance of hubris on his part.
How could I possibly condescend to someone who plays the Ivy League master degree card. Do you have any clue how elitist and pompous that is? Of course you don’t. You’ll give a lame ass “You brought up the Ivy League” response. I’m still waiting for the posse. You are part of what Nietzsche called “the herd.” Well, I won’t be herded by you, the posse, or anyone.
“I guess my take on this would be that if all persons were extreme rugged individualists it would resemble more anarchy than society. That is “every man for himself” or similar ideas.”
Darren.
Conceptually that is exactly what occurs when a society believes that it only moves forward by the actions of extraordinary people. That neither negates the fact that there are and always have been extraordinary people, only that their achievements no matter how singular bring change within the context of the society that surrounds.
“Individuals should be allowed their own identities. I think we would be better off if humanity viewed itself as a collection of individuals rather than a group similar to a bee society where the individual is irrelevant and the hive is the identity.”
What’s missed by some commenters here projecting onto what I wrote is the distinction between the rights of the individual to live their own identity unimpeded by government imposing upon them and the view that individual rights always trump those of society. The easiest example is the murderous psychopath that achieves pleasure from killing people. As the old saying goes where do that person’s rights end and someone else’s begin? My point was that all of us, even the most talented, benefit from the society surrounding us and those that put forth the “rugged individualist” mythology are really saying “some people are more equal than others” and therefore more entitled to be able to do as they please.
One of the interesting dichotomies of this past year’s political scene was the spectacle of some politicians who were adamant in defense of corporate freedom and yet just as adamant in the belief that government should regulate women’s sex organs. The problem with this myth as it is played out on the political scene is that the same people who talk about freedom from being limited by government (corporate interests) are happiest when they put forth proposals to limit personal freedom.
“MikeS, When challenged your first reaction is to condescend.”
Nick,
I agree but would formulate our exchange in this fashion. Your comment initially was a condescending one, as is your nature, I merely repaid you in kind.
Justice, Feingold is an uber introvert. He was not a member of the Dem club. He was shunned for being the only Dem w/ the temerity to vote that evidence should be heard in the Senate on the Clinton impeachment. Being a liberal, he of course believes in the major philosophies of the Dem party but he was not afraid to tell fellow Dems to go shit in their hat when it strayed from his moral center, like The Patriot Act.
Mike, I really miss Thompson. Before he died he had a few things to say about those who rig the game in their favor, and then dare to call themselves rugged individualists. I know he often mocked Bush for his little set out in Crawford where he cleared brush for the cameras, as if every thing he’d ever gotten he’d gotten for himself through hard work. Our corporate overlords have worked the myth to their advantage, and most people don’t even know they’re being conned by it.
Meanwhile, my wife and I live in the woods, buy our meat and produce from local farmers and ranchers who get up early every day and work their butts off to earn an honest living on a small farm. We try to make our local community as ruggedly resilient as we can, and even then we all rely on each other to make this small community work.
I read some Joseph Campbell, who deconstructed many myths, but never really deconstructed the myth of the rugged individual. Seems that in that one quote, Thompson managed to do what the great Campbell never did: expose the myth of the rugged individual as yet another tool used by the PR machine to sell us on a political philosophy that only serves to bloat their bottom line.
“I read some Joseph Campbell, who deconstructed many myths, but never really deconstructed the myth of the rugged individual. Seems that in that one quote, Thompson managed to do what the great Campbell never did: expose the myth of the rugged individual as yet another tool used by the PR machine to sell us on a political philosophy that only serves to bloat their bottom line.”
Scott,
While I’ve read all of Campbell, he has his own built in prejudgements and you have to work around them in reading him. One main difference between Campbell and Thompson is that the former was an intellectual who worked from an academic/intellectual framework. Thompson had a massive intellect, but little intellectual pretensions. He looked at the world like a Zen Master and so was pithy in his commentary.
As you’ve shared regarding your life in the woods, on or off the grid, we all need social groups around us to live and prosper, however one defines prospering.
MikeS, When challenged your first reaction is to condescend. My %’s come from the book, The Introvert’s Advantage. I fully understand what you’re saying and the stale, “You simply don’t understand” is a tired boilerplate response. I believe wholeheartedly in teamwork. I coached it for decades. However, within the framework of a team you have individuals who excel. I coached a kid in American Legion who went on the play Division 1 baseball @ Valpo. He carried the team. He was an introvert. Never said much..just played hard, smart, and well. Many times he was the reason we won. Other players helped but w/o him we would have lost. I remember one game in particular where our leadoff hitter walked, went to second on a slow grounder to third, and our star drove him in w/ a double. He was stranded on second. He pitched a two hitter, and we won 1-0. I thought you understand team sports. Or..are you just a stats geek?
MikeS, I believe in teamwork, how the group working together can accomplish much. I taught that! However, I also believe the individual is an important part of the equation. I guess you hate Walden Pond. You seem most pompous when it’s your piece on which we have disagreement. I read quite well, thank you. And I probably read more than you. The difference being I read all topics and opinions. You just like to preach to the choir. It’s time for your posse to ride in now.