Posts Tagged ‘individualism’

The Pilgrims nearly starved to death because of an ill fated experiment with Communism

Posted: November 23, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For the past several decades Progressives have been steadily transforming the United States from a Free Market nation based on individualism into Socialist nation based on collectivism.  These radical leftists completely ignore the bloody and brutal legacy of all collectivist ideologies.  Starvation and misery are the only things that are abundant in a Communist or Socialist economy.

Today’s Progressives go to great lengths to hide the fact that the earliest colonies here in what became the United States experimented with Communism.  Those early experiments very nearly ended in total failure.  Disaster was only averted when the colonies switched to a Free Market economy based on individualism.  Plymouth Plantation was one of the colonies.  This is chronicled here in William Bradford: from History of Plymouth Plantation, c. 1650.

This first quote describes their experiment with communist:

The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato’s and other ancients applauded by some of later times; and that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. 

It did not work out at all.

For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labor and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labors and victuals, clothes etc., with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignity and disrespect unto them. And for men’s wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it.

The Pilgrims began their experiment with the most noble of intentions, it failed because human societies always falter when collectivism is attempted.

Upon the point all being to have alike, and all to do alike, they thought themselves in the like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut off those relations that God hath set amongst men, yet it did at least much diminish and take off the mutual respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have been worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none object this is men’s corruption, and nothing to the course itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in His wisdom saw another course fitter for them.

Disaster was averted and Plymouth Plantation thrived when William Bradford proposed a radical change to a free market economy based on individualism.

All this while no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expect any. So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other thing to go on in the general way as before. And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end, only for present use (but made no division for inheritance) and ranged all boys and youth under some family. This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

The needs of the individual always outweigh the needs of the many

Posted: September 7, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The Wrath of Kahn has always been my favorite Star Trek movie.  I’ve enjoyed everything about that movie, except for that one scene where Spock states emphatically that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of few”

That quote has always bothered me, even the first time I saw the movie back in the early 1980s.  This was well before my political enlightenment that led me to becoming a Libertarian.  I had read enough history then to know that totalitarian regimes always sacrificed the few and the individual, all in the name of the common good of the majority.

After my great political awakening, which consisted of reading a couple hundred books on all types of political philosophies, I now understand the evils and horrors of collectivism.  I know Spock’s quote reeks of collectivism.  That is not surprising since Gene Roddenberry was very much to the left politically.  Mr. Roddenberry should have read Ayn Rand, especially these two quotes about collectivism:

“Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group—whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.”

I got the idea [for Anthem’s theme] in my school days, in Soviet Russia, when I heard all the vicious attacks on individualism, and asked myself what the world would be like if men lost the word ‘I.’

If Mr. Roddenberry had encountered this Ayn Rand quote, maybe Spock’s quote would not have marred an otherwise fantastic movie.

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 co-existence 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.

Social and Emotional Learning is the latest front in the war the political left is waging on individualism

Posted: August 25, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For the past several decades the political left here in the United States has been waging a guerilla style war on individualism.  That side of the political spectrum believes in collectivism, which is a belief system where individual humans have no true value.  Collectivism is the defining issue of the political left.

Individual identity, individual rights, and individual liberty have all been the very bedrock the United States was built upon.  Ever since the 1960s, the Democrat party has veered further and further to the left. Most Democrats today embrace collectivism, rather that individualism. 

Unfortunately, the most rabid collectivists infected American colleges and Universities back in the 1960s, turning them into centers of indoctrination, rather than centers of learning.  From these indoctrination centers, collectivism has spread like a cancer across the United States.

Collectivists here in the United States worked particularly hard to infect the education departments of colleges and Universities, turning them into mills that produce collectivist high school and grade school teachers.  Particular emphasis was placed on creating collectivist school administrators and principles.  Teacher unions also became institutions of collectivist indoctrination.

Collectivist educators worked tirelessly to create clever sounding collectivist indoctrination schemes in order to stealthily indoctrinate American children, right under the noses of their parents.  Two of the most common schemes are Critical Race Theory and Social and Emotional Learning.

Until I read this article, UN Program Teaching Kids ‘SEL’ Really Seeks To Kill Individualism (thefederalist.com), I was unaware that one of these schemes originated with the United Nations.

School districts around the world are racing to implement Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs in the name of improving their students’ social and emotional skills. In fact, according to the global purveyor of SEL standards, 27 states so far have adopted K-12 SEL competencies, and all 50 states have adopted SEL competencies for pre-K students. But where is this massive push for SEL coming from, and what are the motives behind it?

The answer to this question is becoming clear: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a primary force behind the SEL movement worldwide. A major way UNESCO advocates for SEL is through UNESCO’S Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. The Gandhi Institute produces an online publication called The Blue Dot, which features articles from SEL experts and others around the globe that highlight “the relationship between education, peace, sustainable development and global citizenship.” Invoking Gandhi’s name in the title of this United Nations entity is meant to pull at the heartstrings of anyone who hears it. But should our heartstrings be pulled?

But why? What is it UNESCO wants to instill in children? UNESCO’s materials make it clear that SEL is intended to foster not only kindness between students, but cooperation with a global agenda rooted in the doctrine of collectivism. Nandini Chatterjee Singh, a program specialist for the Gandhi Institute, says “SEL skills are powerful competencies” that have been shown to “instill pluralistic thinking.” The institute’s website further says it is seeking to teach children to “exhibit prosocial behavior for … a peaceful and sustainable planet.”

In short, proponents of the sustainable development goals and SEL want to instill “pluralistic thinking” in your child in the name of global peace. They want children to be taught to value the “collective good” over individual liberties, rights, and property despite the fact that the freest, most prosperous nations in the world are founded on individual liberties, rights, and property.

The United Nations has long been an international institution devoted transforming the globe into a Socialist one world government.  As you can see from the following quotes from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization website, Social and Emotional Learning is a key to making this collectivist hell happen.

At UNESCO MGIEP, we recognize the urgent need for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to be mainstreamed into education systems to transform education and shape a future that is geared towards providing peace and human flourishing. SEL can be described as learning that allows all learners to identify and navigate emotions, practice mindful engagement and exhibit prosocial behaviour for human flourishing towards a peaceful and sustainable planet

Central to envisioning and shaping a more sustainable and peaceful future is youth. The mass mobilisation of youth towards sustainable development requires empowering youth with information and involving them in policy’s development, promotion and implementation. At UNESCO MGIEP, we work with youth organisations and young people worldwide by supporting their initiatives and curating youth action towards kindness and transforming education.

UNESCO MGIEP’s efforts in prevention of violent extremism include the development of an entirely youth led guide that puts forth youth-centred actionable recommendations for a wide range of stakeholders as well as capacity building for youth in SEL.

UNESCO MGIEP aims to mobilize the world’s youth to achieve the 17 SDGs through transformative acts of kindness. This campaign attempts to create a positive culture of kindness, in which every young person’s selfless act matters!

The Global Collective for SEL and Digital Learning is a multi-stakeholder alliance mobilized to promote Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and digital learning as critical new dimensions in achieving the Sustainable Development

I am proud to be a nonconforming nonconformist who doesn’t conform to anything

Posted: March 31, 2022 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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I have always been most proud of the fact that I am truly a unique individual.  I have never fit in anywhere and never wanted to.  The people who know me say that I am way, way out there in my own little universe.  I don’t march to the beat of a different drum, I wander aimlessly to music that only I can hear in my head. 

From the beginning of this great nation, individuality was most highly prized.  Rugged individualism was one of the cornerstones that the United States was built upon.  The Constitution was written specifically to protect the God-given natural rights of every single individual in the United States. 

Classical Liberalism, which is the precise opposite of modern liberalism, is the philosophy that was closely held by the founding fathers of the United States.  They infused that philosophy into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution so thoroughly that it is the lifeblood of the United States.

Libertarianism is the modern equivalent of Classical Liberalism. That is the philosophy that is at the very core of my being because no philosophy is more individualistic.  According to Libertarianism and Classical Liberalism, each and every individual is free to do whatever they want to as long as they do not hurt any individual or interfere with the rights of any other individual. 

In a true Classically Liberal society, such as the United States was meant to be, each and every individual is free to live their lives as they wish, as long as do not hurt anyone or interfere with the rights of anyone.  As long as we do not hurt others or interfere with the rights of others, the government at all levels must leave us alone to live our lives as we wish, neither restraining or helping us in any way.

Today the United States is as far away from being a Classically Liberal society as can possibly be because this nation has been infected by various forms of collectivist philosophies, in ever increasing amounts, for more than 100 years.  Collectivism is the very opposite of individualism. Those utopian philosophies, when instituted, turn any society into a hell where any individual, or group of individuals, can be sacrificed by any government, for any reason.  This is most often done in the name of the “greater good.”

The Democratic Party has been completely taken over by collectivists of a socialist variety.  Since the installation of Joe Biden, thanks to the stolen 2020 presidential election, the Democrats have nearly completed their transformation of the United States into collectivist hell hole.

Rather than individualism, collectivist mob rule by brain washed masses is now the predominant culture of United States. 

The instinctual roots of collectivism and dangers of those misguided philosophies are discussed in this article: How Compulsive Conformity Can Get People Killed (thefederalist.com)

In primitive environments, the herd instinct serves as a means of survival. If some sense danger and rush to safety, all follow. But how does such a conformity impulse work in a high-tech society like ours? It doesn’t really.

Sure, a certain level of conformity is normal for a society to function. But an unchecked conformity impulse in a technological society like ours acts more like slow-motion suicide than a survival mechanism. We think we’re saving ourselves by conforming, but in the long run the opposite is true.

In fact, our instinct to conform has become a weapon tyrants use to control us by threatening social isolation for those who don’t obey. This is especially the case when a monopoly of tech overlords can broadcast propaganda to the herd, instantly and globally. In such cases there is no “wisdom of crowds.” When the masses obey the propaganda to avoid social punishment, they only prop up propaganda and thereby spread social turmoil.

The lack of resistance to the liberty destroying mandates and lockdowns imposed to combat the Wuhan Flu here in the United States was rather appalling to me.  This lack of resistance was brought about by decades of collectivist indoctrination and the destruction of our true history.

If we were still a nation of nonconforming nonconformists like me, the Wuhan Flu restrictions, mandates, lockdowns, and other nonsense would have ended rather quickly.  Unfortunately for all of us, the United States is now a nation of conforming sheeple.

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