Individualism is societally destructive

In this round I will construct my case. First let it be recognized that every individuals is born and raised with involuntary, necessary, and significant social attachments, the most important of which is the family. It is from these that society springs forth, society is not and cannot be held together by a distant central state, it is instead the community and the authorities which naturally spring up which bind us together and prevent the destruction of civilization. It is self evident that social interactions and obligations are the glue which binds together any society--indeed humans are social animals after all. It is for these reasons that the philosophy of individualism is, and historically has been, so hostile and destructive to society. Individualism, decivilization, and the rise of the state. A. Statism It's quite ironic that the inevitable result of individualism is the ugliest and most deadly form of collectivizism- a totalitarian government. Throughout history, oppressive governments have gained their power through the destruction of old obligations and the family. The most individualistic of all revolutions, that of the French, gave way to the muderous regime of Robespierre and the committee of public safety. The crimes they committed in the name of the revolution and the "rights of man and citizen" are unspeakable. Make no mistake, collectivization is also a moral evil but it is only through individualism that the growth and health of the state is possible. Nazi Germany only gained its power after the essential liquidization of the power of the Junker class after WWI, Soviet Russia after the destruction of the Boyars, ect. All, initially, in the name of individualism and the people. The more an individual attempts to free themselves of traditional, natural authorities such as family, church, and aristocracy the easier it becomes for the state to gain power. As Nisbet explains[1]: "Political collectivism could scarcely exist were it not for the erosion of the social authorities and the consequent release of the masses of individuals. " To be sure, the socieites of old with their landed gentry, hereditary obligations, and blatant inequality may seem wildly imperfect but at least when the world was under the influence of local authorities, a natural social order, there were no genocides and total wars. These feats come from the state alone after it has won its war against the natural authorities individuals are subjected to. The state can only grow in earnest once the institutions resisting it are silenced, this is why the power of the divine right "absolute monarchs" of the past pales in comparison to the power wielded by modern democratic governments. The growth of state power is an inevitable result of the philosophy that attempts to "liberate" individuals from their communities. B. FamilyFamily is where the socialization of individuals first occurs. The family is the most important, indeed the very foundational unit of society, to deny this is to deny the self-evident, as Hoppe explains[2], the family is "s the most fundamental, natural, essential, ancient, and indispensable social units. ", after all it is here where individuals learn how to become a member of society and contribute to civilization. It is with families, the origin of all civilization, where the inevitable and decivilizing destructive effects of individualism are most evident. The great sociologist Robert Nisbet[3] explains that in previous times family was viewed as a: "strong and pervasive kinship community, which counted the unborn and the dead as well as the living, which extended itself into all aspects of and individuals life--economic, political, legal, cultural, psychological, and biological. .. not the nuclear or conjugal group with husband, wide, and immediate children. .. but the longitudinal family of generations in time, the family of blood line, of tradition and history, of ancestors and planned-for posterity. "Compare this to the sorry state of the family today, which is almost without exception viewed just in its nuclear, and ever-shrinking core. Due to individuals persuing their own interests rather than acting according the obligations to family and community, the family has become just another means for an individual to advance themselves. The family of today is no longer the family of past days, where ideals like justice, honor, and obligation were the defining values, but rather just another manifestation of the hedonism and present-orientatedness of our era, brought on by individualism. When the goals and interests of the individual and the individual alone (as opposed to their family or community) are placed at the forefront of their every action, of course civilization is going to decline vis-a-vis a society in which kinship relations and obligations take the forefront. Predicably and consequently, the ideals of honor and justice have virtually disappeared in the realm of public opinion, replaced by hedonism and the endless drive for "success" and material wealth that destroys not only society but the moral health of the individual. This is not to say that individuals do not have rights or are not of intrinsic worth as moral actors, but rather that individuals also in a healthy society often should choose the interests of the community or the family over their own personal interests. The inherent social bonds necessary in a human society indicate strongly how a purely self-centered state of mind would harm society. C. Communities vs. CitiesExamining rural communities vs. cities is about as close to a controlled experiment as one could hope for, and it's in cities where the effects of individualism are manifested and inescapable. Cities, especially after public housing and urban renewal had broken up the sense of community that did form, are almost completely devoid not only of community, and family, but of civilization as a whole outside of the wealthy, segregated areas. Cities everywhere have vastly higher rates of murder, assault, bulgalry and all kinds of violent crimes than the country-side[4] where community and pockets of civilization can still be found[5], and almost without exception rates of all kinds of societal ills such as familial weakness, hedonism, illegitimacy, unemployment, dependency ect. ect. are all significantly higher in cities. The reason for this is because cities, despite the mass of individuals living in them, are places where there are SO many individuals, that every persons kinship and family is simply lost in the void. There is little community or kinship, instead cities are the perfect reprentation of what individualism leads to and all the hallmarks of a feeble and dying civilization are higher here. Rather than being centers of culture and civilization, cities, the centers of individualism, are instead epicenters of moral corruption, of societal degredation, of hedonism, poverty, crime, and illegitimacy, of moral relativism, cruelty, and loose-morals. Individualism is the cause of the decivilization that has been sweeping the Western world these past few centuries, for the reasons illuminated above. A society of kinship obligation, of family and community is a far greater, stronger, and healthier society. The resolution is affirmed. Citations:1. Nisbet, Robert. Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1982. 187. Print.2. Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2001. USA. 188. Print.3. Nisbet, Robert. Prejudices: A Philosophical Dictionary. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1982. 111. Print. 4. . http://law.jrank.org... 5. Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2001. USA. 185. Print.