[ExI] Whither Individualism?

[Lee Corbin]

Here is a passage from wikipedia's entry on individualism:

"Alexis de Tocqueville, whose book Democracy in America was translated in English in 1840 (published in French in
1835) used the term as well. Tocqueville described Americans as highly individualistic and believed that this
individualism was inseparable from the new American concept of egalitarian democracy. He wrote, "Not only does
democracy make men forget their ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from
their contemporaries, Each man is forever thrown back upon himself, and there is danger that he may shut up in the
solitude of his own heart." And, mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the
community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that
after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself. "Individualism is a Selfishness
originates in blind instinct; individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it
originates as much in deficiencies of mind as in perversity of heart. Selfishness blights the germ of all virtue;
individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all
others and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness."     ---internal references can be found in the link here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualism

Note the part:

     Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the
     community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with
     his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own,
     he willingly leaves society at large to itself.

De Tocqueville is clearly rcorrect here, but I wonder about two of his observations.
First, if the Americans were truly as individualistic as he writes (in 1840), then how is
that they were so concerned about remote and in most cases non-personal issues
such as slavery and abolition?  (2) Being the astute observer that he was, just how
were conditions in Europe---say Paris, or France in general---any different?  I would
like to be able to imagine it, but I cannot.

In any case, although I still have some problems with what de Tocqueville wrote, I do
sense much more than I did fifteen years ago that there is something wrong in much
of contemporary culture and its over-glorification of the individual.  One very seldom
sees community action or community spirit celebrated in movies, it seems to me.

Lee