Everyone against everyone

[matrixmann]

What the American idea of individualism spread throughout the world is: People have troubles to find a common base for standing united.

Comments

[red-child.livejournal.com]

People are definitely isolated in their positions in the world. We're all living together but it seems so common to not know or really interact with your next door neighbor. I just recently was living in a big city... I barely saw much of my own roommates, and the family living next door, despite spending a lot of time outside, I barely talked to and didn't know any member of by name. I lived in isolation in my own mind and didn't have any common ground with anyone around me. We were all strangers or, with only a modicum of relative ground of mutuality between us. We knew nothing about each other. I couldn't tell you if any of them believe in God (though I doubt it) with any certainty. I'm at a loss as to who they are. For the record, this is coming from a circumstance of living in America.

[matrixmann]

It's not only the atmosphere in big cities. It's also - it seems like the cultural conquest of the American culture throughout the world has brought the American aspect in their society and culture of individualism to the rest of the world. Like, at least I perceive that way, the United States are very much a culture of a thousand splintered groups which are busy most of the time laying emphasis on how different they are from the rest and why they don't want to work together with them. Even for a bigger issue. To me it looks like this has conquered the world and has settled down also in other cultures. (Well, not talking like German culture ever was too different from that; taking a look into history and you remember that this state was created of a lot of smaller states - for a united state, not too long ago.)
The effect what this causes is - people have trouble to act together for a bigger issue. Even if they must, and even if they should.

Ugly Story

[red-child.livejournal.com]

So it's a mess all around, and the blame lays on America? I could buy that. America thinks of goals and aims to reach, but tends to bat the blind eye at ignoring what it costs to get there and what sort of sacrifices will have to be made to allow intended goals to be implemented. The United States pressures people and cultures into adopting its "superior" way of life, and that puts a lot of pressure on them to change and influences them into losing what they had for mimicries of America's way of life. They cost the whole to promote their "superior" idea, when really its just some selfish ideal that contradicts to old ways. It's new, and that makes it flashy, which then makes it sell. All in all it's just a catastrophe, not waiting to happen, but going on smoothly every day as it sails its way into a sales pitch. Messy situation.

Re: Ugly Story

[matrixmann]

It came into my mind how far-reaching that is if you compare the style of activism for certain issues here and there. If you look at how activism is here, what kind of attitudes circle around, what kind of mindset is put out, you draw your similarities between it as you can't get past the perception that something had been taken over. Let's say the both best examples: Feminism and LBGT.
Feminism here somehow meanwhile only circles around making you believe "women are always vicims, men are doers" and, if you don't want to join in the choir, then you're sexist and need to be fought dead. At all, you can describe it as a really man-hating culture. It works under the cover of empowerment for women, but in the end it's rather like waging war between the both sides with the firm goal to establish women are the better kind of humans.
If I take a look at that, I'd say this kind of style is something that comes from overseas. Acting like you've got the most liberal position, even against facts from nature, and in the end you propagate an order to mindfuckery. Being the most egoistic that you can be.
LBGT activism didn't take that direction that strongly, but beneath the surface you also find such roots here. At least, they're rather revealed by the media than you get to hear about from regular people.
Their contribution to the topic is always calling the CSD something positive and putting that kind of LBGT people into spotlight which you can say you will most probably only meet in the showbusiness because as a regular worker nobody would and could put up with them. Extravagant guys with exaggerated female behavior or Conchita Wurst like figures.
And that drives you again at something that what catches your attention in the style of activism for this minority overseas.
It doesn't look anymore like an equality movement, it rather looks like things are now on a level of claiming for behaving like a sefish idiot and your surroundings are supposed to shut their mouths about giving you a hint.
In that way you can even understand Russian people not wanting that, but the mistake they make is associating that selfish behavior to the subject itself. They don't distinguish between the selfish behavior that US-culture has in all things and the subject itself which is good talking about and strengthening people which are affected by it.