Stefanie Krasnow’s post (Click here, some adult language) on “The Cult of Individualism,” though occasionally sliding into rhetorical shots at traditional liberal Quixote windmills (eg. capitalism, big corporations), is inciteful in its observation on narcissim in modern societ. The article points out that with the Death of God narcissism runs rapid, or, as he puts in, , or, as the article calls it, where “non-judgmentalism meets moral relativism.”
The history of people and socieities is replete with ebbs and flows. Two of these poles are altruism and narcissism, or self-sacrifice and self-interest. Two world wars in the early and mid 20th century perhaps brought sacrifice for the greater good (regardless of which side) to the fore. Altruism, whether religious or political, peaked in the 60s.
The mid-70s provided fertile ground for sowing the seeds of a renewed narcissism globally. Perhaps somewhat ironically Reagan’s Presidency marks the starting point of this Cult of Individualism. WIIFM (what’s in it for me), “Greed is Good”, and many other sound bytes mark the change from altruism to narcissism.