Gaslit Nation / Dame Magazine [View all]

[turbinetree]

https://www.damemagazine.com/gaslitnation/


Personal Responsibility. It’s an idea cherished by the Right, and often nodded to by those on the nominal Left who wish to appear “reasonable” to those they imagine are “reasonable” on the Right. What they are talking about when they talk about “personal responsibility” isn’t just the general idea that people should act responsibly and brush their teeth and not walk into traffic, but rather that every person is responsible for themselves and not to each other. It’s the idea that any help given to anyone else is a disservice, because it will cause them to not know how to take “personal responsibility” for themselves and thus leave them unable to survive. Like house cats left in the wild.

Many Americans like to believe that our traditions of “personal responsibility” and “rugged individualism” are what make the American Dream possible. That as long as you work hard and make the right sacrifices, you will be able to enjoy a good life, relatively protected from disaster.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2020/03/19/rugged-individualism-will-not-save-us-from-coronavirus/