This is our live event at the KBG Bar in New York — recorded on June 7th. If you weren’t there in person, here’s your chance to take a passive part in our 13 Step Program: Learn how you can survive and even thrive during American decline.
🚨 Don’t forget to buy tickets to our SOVIET COLLAPSE CINEMA SERIES in Brooklyn. First screening is on Sunday, June 28th. Space is limited. Tickets are running out. 🚨
As we explain in the intro to our self-help booklet:
As people who were brought up in a more collectivist culture, we see that the biggest weakness of America is the cult of individualism.
Individualism is one of the most powerful myths here. It’s basically enshrined as one of the divine laws of the land — “Be Selfish” might as well be the 11th Commandment, handed down by Moses and ratified by Jesus Christ. This myth has made individualism synonymous with strength and vitality. The image of the perfect American is the cowboy and the industrialist. The strength of the individual vs. the weakness of the collective — this is the idea pushed by another Russian immigrant, Ayn Rand.
When society is stable, institutions function, and things more or less work as promised, individualism does seem real. You can go out and make money and then buy everything you need to survive. You don’t need to lean on friends or family or your community; you can just tap the market for goods and services: nannies, movers, shrinks… They’re all there for you to purchase, if you have the means. These transactional relationships take up all the space and are seen as normal, while friendships remain decorative and aloof. You’re not supposed to impose on people or ask them to help — you don’t want to be a drag and you don’t want your friends to be a drag either.
Americans have been psyopped into thinking that individualism is strength. We see it differently. Individualism is fragility. Individualism depends on impersonal institutions — you become dependent on a job and consumer relationships for everything. If you lose your job, your whole life will come crumbling down. Real strength lies in collectivism — in cooperation with other people.
The thing to remember is that America’s cult of individualism is a historic aberration. It came out of a very particular period of American history. It’s a product of a post-WWII economic boom and a need for a countervailing ideology in America’s fight against communism. Individualism was created by a deliberate propaganda campaign, foisted on Americans through films, books, even art. The idea that sustain individualism are ubiquitous, and yet individualistic society is very fragile. Its survival depends on post-WWII institutions — institutions that, paradoxically, are rooted in socialistic principles and were in fact created in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union…
So watch our MASTERCLASS. Don’t just survive. THRIVE!
