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> Yep. Everyone praises the "great men," as the article mentions, and Western culture is heavily individualistic, so it stands to reason that we should deify th

> Yep. Everyone praises the "great men," as the article mentions, and Western culture is heavily individualistic, so it stands to reason that we should deify the most visible leaders of things. Sure, having kings, emperors, or prophets like the good old days was so much less individualistic.

robertlagrant 3y ago
Yes, it was. Individualism is the last thing you want if you want people to act as though their lives are worth less than the king's / emperor's / state. You don't want people valuing themselves and having legal and economic standing, free to make agreements between themselves. You want them to do what you want them to do.
- PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
  you may as well claim everyone in the US believes their lives are less important than the presidents. In truth, the president very rarely has any major effect on the lives of Americans, therefore they don't really care one way or the other. Or to put it another way, that food needed to be harvested regardless of who was king, as long as said king didn't interfere with the food harvesting, people might have opinions but ultimately didn't care.
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    I can't find them anymore, but I've read interesting articles on attitudes of slaves and minorities. One of these wrote of certain slaves valuing themselves less than their owners. Then there's the research on black children preferring white dolls to black dolls. Huge numbers of people have a status quo bias. Anytime the leadership changes you're dealing with fear impulses.
    - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
      I'm familiar with the doll research, the children were asked which doll was prettier and chose the white doll. That's not the same as preferring the white doll.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    Possibly, but I'm referring to how large-scale decisions were made. You can wipe out inequality with a sustained attack on the wealthy[0], but if you value all lives, not just the lives of your group, then you shouldn't see that as an option. If you value your pilots' lives you cannot invent kamikaze planes, nor even cheap planes. You have to invent F16s and the like, that improve their pilots' survivability at significant cost. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror

robertlagrant 3y ago

Yes, it was. Individualism is the last thing you want if you want people to act as though their lives are worth less than the king's / emperor's / state. You don't want people valuing themselves and having legal and economic standing, free to make agreements between themselves. You want them to do what you want them to do.

PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
you may as well claim everyone in the US believes their lives are less important than the presidents. In truth, the president very rarely has any major effect on the lives of Americans, therefore they don't really care one way or the other. Or to put it another way, that food needed to be harvested regardless of who was king, as long as said king didn't interfere with the food harvesting, people might have opinions but ultimately didn't care.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  I can't find them anymore, but I've read interesting articles on attitudes of slaves and minorities. One of these wrote of certain slaves valuing themselves less than their owners. Then there's the research on black children preferring white dolls to black dolls. Huge numbers of people have a status quo bias. Anytime the leadership changes you're dealing with fear impulses.
  - PH95VuimJjqBqy 3y ago
    I'm familiar with the doll research, the children were asked which doll was prettier and chose the white doll. That's not the same as preferring the white doll.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  Possibly, but I'm referring to how large-scale decisions were made. You can wipe out inequality with a sustained attack on the wealthy[0], but if you value all lives, not just the lives of your group, then you shouldn't see that as an option. If you value your pilots' lives you cannot invent kamikaze planes, nor even cheap planes. You have to invent F16s and the like, that improve their pilots' survivability at significant cost. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror