> Well, like PBS with its eternal fundraising pleas, I'd like to make a
> pitch yet again for my man Emerson. I don't think there's any question
> that whatever democratic potential the USA had has been corrupted --
> that American individualism has devolved into a narcissism that has made
> Americans atomized, selfish and frightened. I think the only long-term
> solution to this problem is to abolish capitalism and whittle away
> differences in wealth and income among all citizens to virtually
> nothing. That change will require Americans to lose their solipsistic
> mindset. I think Emerson, uniquely among all American writers, points
> the way -- encouraging people to look deeply within themselves, not to
> cultivate further egotism but to recognize the profundity of their
> connection with all humankind.
>
I don't quite get this: we recognize and enact our connection with all humankind by actually interacting with people, not by solitary reflection. Only in a hyperindividualist culture like ours could we claim that our connection to others is a product of individual, independent, "deep" thought. --Emerson is a symptom of the (capitalist) disease, not the cure.
Miles