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While I am not a fan of American Exceptionalism, I think this article is more informed by the usual European prejudiced tropes about America than by reality, at

While I am not a fan of American Exceptionalism, I think this article is more informed by the usual European prejudiced tropes about America than by reality, at least in the parallels between the traditions of rugged individualism from the Old West and the present epidemics of loneliness. The old Cowboy was based on self-reliance, he was not a loner because he couldn't connect with people, but because his adventures lead him far beyond the spacial confines of society. He was a master of his element but felt at peace and integrated with nature. The modern loneliness is born out of o alienation, learned hopelessness, lack of concrete agency on one's life, and extreme subjection of the individual to an all-encompassing (some could say even totalitarian) social-economic-cultural system that gives him no other choice than being a loner. Where the cowboy choose to be left alone when he wanted, the modern loner just can't find a place to be him/herself in modern society. It is the tragedy of utter powerlessness. And it is kind of ironic that this comes from El Pais, because for all the external appearance of happiness and permanent joy that seems to characterize spain for a tourist, Spanish society is also extremely atomized, and behind the facade of an easy life, most upper and middle-class Spaniards I've met there seemed to live a very artificial lifes devoid of any long term meaning or sense of transcendence.

la64710 3y ago
All the American exceptionalism and associated lone hero image was fine and dandy till the west was winning in the global stage.The urban culture got imposed on every other country of the world and in this model of development it was expected people to go as far as needed from their homes and roots in search of prosperity. It was in a way encouraged for decades and at least two to four generations of these countries grew up embracing this urban nuclear family culture and discarding their own culture of joint families and close ties. Now when the western civilization is on the back foot suddenly we are finding new love for community and close social ties. I am sure tomorrow if we find new riches in the mines of Mars and Saturn , the philosophy of the lone warrior will again be encouraged to recruit a new batch of lonesome spacemen for their decade long journeys to these planets.
- shrimp_emoji 3y ago
  Nah. Gravity is a real drag. The asteroid belts have it all for almost zero g's, almost like someone already dug it out of the ground and threw it into space. And robots can just tug those around to your nearest habitat/spaceport/planet.
cogogo 3y ago
As an American married to a Spaniard who has lived in and spent considerable time in Spain… I’m not sure I totally agree with that take but it does resonate. White collar working life in Spain is a greater slog than people would expect based on a visit or expectations based on general European values. We live in Boston now and are deeply appreciative of both our opportunities and quality of life.
aylmao 3y ago
I disagree; I do think the "old cowboy" trope is closely related to today's loneliness epidemic and disagree with the notion that modern loneliness is rooted on the "lack of concrete agency on one's life". Source: me. The trope of the hero, the power of will and life as a personal and individual journey is widespread in American culture and its cultural exports (Hollywood, music, etc). Also very widespread, the idea of personal sacrifice to achieve something greater than oneself, and linking masculinity with self-determination, ruggedness, independence and self-made success. All of these, IMO, are related to the lone cowboy trope. The old lone cowboy is still today considered "sexy". Loneliness is still considered masculine; if you picture a "chad", they're not living with roommates, much less with their parents— they have with their own ability been able to amass economic success to rent a one bedroom and live alone. I'm from a country where it's not the norm that people move to another city for college, or leave their parent's home at 18. I went to study to the USA, where it was either assumed, or the goal. Of course you're moving out at 18, and trying to land at a college considering as top priority your story of personal challenge and protagonist-style achievement. A last priority tends to be being close to family. Many try to avoid it. Same work-wise. You go where the best career prospects are, or where you think it'd be "cool" to live. Often, further down the list of priorities is being close to your family, or sticking with your friends. I'd call this the opposite to "lacking agency on one's life". It's the opposite, you're told you've got complete agency of your life, and if you let others influence it away from maximizing your "success", you're wasting it for the sake of others. I do agree with the idea that this is "extreme subjection of the individual to an all-encompassing social-economic-cultural system" though— one that whose idealization of individualism gave us the lone cowboy trope, and in turn feeds off it.
- deprecative 3y ago
  > I'd call this the opposite to "lacking agency on one's life". It's not though, is it? Given that we in the United States need to earn money for everything rather than have meaningful social welfare programs means that our agency is simply "earn the most amount of money so maybe you can have a few years of peace in your 80s." which I think is the opposite of meaningful agency of one's own life.
  - 3y ago
dale_glass 3y ago
The old Cowboy was based on a fiction. It's an obsolete kind of farming job, not being a badass outlaw as a profession that fiction turned it into. A real cowboy was just a guy whose job was managing cattle and moving it around as needed, not an adventurer.
- 2-718-281-828 3y ago
  a guy who's spending a lot of time alone subjected to harsh climate, dangerous animals who is forced to be self-reliant when it comes to mental or physical ailments or crime will either break or become an adventurer. i think it might be argued that your idea of what an adventurer has to look like is coined by hollywood such that it has to be a guy who does all sorts of crazy things - which a simple historic cowboy didn't do of course - while otoh this mundane life of a cowboy was by all means pretty adventurous at least by today's standards and that on a daily basis.

la64710 3y ago

All the American exceptionalism and associated lone hero image was fine and dandy till the west was winning in the global stage.The urban culture got imposed on every other country of the world and in this model of development it was expected people to go as far as needed from their homes and roots in search of prosperity. It was in a way encouraged for decades and at least two to four generations of these countries grew up embracing this urban nuclear family culture and discarding their own culture of joint families and close ties. Now when the western civilization is on the back foot suddenly we are finding new love for community and close social ties. I am sure tomorrow if we find new riches in the mines of Mars and Saturn , the philosophy of the lone warrior will again be encouraged to recruit a new batch of lonesome spacemen for their decade long journeys to these planets.

shrimp_emoji 3y ago
Nah. Gravity is a real drag. The asteroid belts have it all for almost zero g's, almost like someone already dug it out of the ground and threw it into space. And robots can just tug those around to your nearest habitat/spaceport/planet.

cogogo 3y ago

As an American married to a Spaniard who has lived in and spent considerable time in Spain… I’m not sure I totally agree with that take but it does resonate. White collar working life in Spain is a greater slog than people would expect based on a visit or expectations based on general European values. We live in Boston now and are deeply appreciative of both our opportunities and quality of life.

aylmao 3y ago

I disagree; I do think the "old cowboy" trope is closely related to today's loneliness epidemic and disagree with the notion that modern loneliness is rooted on the "lack of concrete agency on one's life". Source: me. The trope of the hero, the power of will and life as a personal and individual journey is widespread in American culture and its cultural exports (Hollywood, music, etc). Also very widespread, the idea of personal sacrifice to achieve something greater than oneself, and linking masculinity with self-determination, ruggedness, independence and self-made success. All of these, IMO, are related to the lone cowboy trope. The old lone cowboy is still today considered "sexy". Loneliness is still considered masculine; if you picture a "chad", they're not living with roommates, much less with their parents— they have with their own ability been able to amass economic success to rent a one bedroom and live alone. I'm from a country where it's not the norm that people move to another city for college, or leave their parent's home at 18. I went to study to the USA, where it was either assumed, or the goal. Of course you're moving out at 18, and trying to land at a college considering as top priority your story of personal challenge and protagonist-style achievement. A last priority tends to be being close to family. Many try to avoid it. Same work-wise. You go where the best career prospects are, or where you think it'd be "cool" to live. Often, further down the list of priorities is being close to your family, or sticking with your friends. I'd call this the opposite to "lacking agency on one's life". It's the opposite, you're told you've got complete agency of your life, and if you let others influence it away from maximizing your "success", you're wasting it for the sake of others. I do agree with the idea that this is "extreme subjection of the individual to an all-encompassing social-economic-cultural system" though— one that whose idealization of individualism gave us the lone cowboy trope, and in turn feeds off it.

deprecative 3y ago
> I'd call this the opposite to "lacking agency on one's life". It's not though, is it? Given that we in the United States need to earn money for everything rather than have meaningful social welfare programs means that our agency is simply "earn the most amount of money so maybe you can have a few years of peace in your 80s." which I think is the opposite of meaningful agency of one's own life.
- 3y ago

dale_glass 3y ago

The old Cowboy was based on a fiction. It's an obsolete kind of farming job, not being a badass outlaw as a profession that fiction turned it into. A real cowboy was just a guy whose job was managing cattle and moving it around as needed, not an adventurer.

2-718-281-828 3y ago
a guy who's spending a lot of time alone subjected to harsh climate, dangerous animals who is forced to be self-reliant when it comes to mental or physical ailments or crime will either break or become an adventurer. i think it might be argued that your idea of what an adventurer has to look like is coined by hollywood such that it has to be a guy who does all sorts of crazy things - which a simple historic cowboy didn't do of course - while otoh this mundane life of a cowboy was by all means pretty adventurous at least by today's standards and that on a daily basis.