Toxic Individualism

We live in a society where independence and hard work is celebrated and admired. Hollywood glamorizes characters who are self-made and have acquired great success. Consider ico/nic films such as Iron Man or The Wolf of Wall Street. Both Tony Stark and Jordan Belfort are the epitome of what it means to be a hard working American who never gives up or makes excuses. There is no doubt that perseverance and independence are great attributes that everyone should strive towards. And indeed, we should not ignore the importance of summoning the drive to succeed and reaffirm one’s sense of self, against all odds. However, this very societal emphasis on self-reliance has been blown out of proportion and has resulted in our modern culture of selfishness.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic exposed this culture of selfishness that each and every one of us are a part of, whether we realize it or not. The United States alone has reached 19.4 million positive cases and 336,000 deaths. Despite the fact that there are lives in danger, we are more divided than ever on simple measures such as wearing a mask. Widespread use of facemasks in itself will not resolve the spread of the virus. However, studies have proven that they are essential to the overall efforts of curbing the spread, often visualized through the swiss cheese model. 

This simple act of wearing a mask has needlessly become politicized and has exposed our inability to make minimal sacrifices for the sake of our most vulnerable members of society. This selfishness has been exposed in the highest levels of American government as well. All 50 of our state governments are more divided than ever, competing with one another for access to PPE, ventilators, and even the newly announced vaccine. 

The end of the pandemic seems to be coming very soon. However, among the many ugly truths that the pandemic has exposed, American selfishness and toxic individualism has been the most shocking for me personally. It is important that American citizens do a self evaluation and decide the kind of country they want to live in.