Selling Collectivism
A Reflection On The Indispensability of Individualism
An Old Marketing Trick
While it is easy to see that collectivism is the growing philosophy of our day, one may be confused as to why identity politics movements seem to foreground the individual’s well-being. The answer is simple — we all reflexively and reflectively seek what is in our best individual interest. What better way, then, is there to garner support for one’s collectivist group than to appeal to this natural desire to do what is best for oneself? Do you want to feel better psychologically? Then become a member of group x. Your membership will bring you the “peace,” “love,” “stability,” “good vibes,” or “[fill in the blank]” you are seeking. The foregrounding of the individual’s well-being by collectivist groups (e.g. LGBTQIA+, racial identity politics movements, communists, etc) is a sales pitch that works.
Once you are hooked by this advertisement and buy their product, however, you will see that your individual pursuits are constrained by the group’s ideology. The degree to which you are allowed to think and do for yourself is predetermined not by objective reality but the ideology to which the group subscribes. Consider the fact that “transitioning” from male to female (or vice versa) is not unthinkable or frowned upon among the broader LGBTQIA+ movement, whereas de-transitioning is frowned upon. What determines that “transitioning” is an acceptable and good expression of one’s individuality while “de-transitioning” is not? Well, the group’s ideology.
There are many discussions concerning the inner conflict that exists among those who comprise the so-called “LGBTQIA+ Community.”1 To be sure, there is disagreement among them on various issues. Nevertheless, there is a shared commitment to opposing “heteronormativity.” Merriam-Webster explains that heteronormativity is the belief
…that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality2
Given that heteronormativity is viewed by many who count themselves among the LGBTQIA+ community as the source of their oppression,3 actions that implicitly affirm heteronormativity are viewed as outside of the range of acceptable behaviors for those among the group. De-transitioning implicitly affirms an essentialist and essentially heteronormative understanding of the body, sex, and gender.4 Ergo, it is frowned upon.
Framing Collectivism as Pro-Individualism
The persistence and naturality of individualism is an objectively established truth, and one that makes the framing collectivism as beneficial to the individual necessary. Without this appeal to the individual, collectivism can only be established by coercion. And as H.M. Kallen correctly notes, “with coercion goes instant resistance to coercion,”5 resistance that continues until the coercive powers that be are dismantled. So collectivism gets marketed to individuals as something that will better them as individuals. This applies not only in the case of those in the LGBTQIA+ movement, but among contemporary communists as well. Consider the screenshots below —
The article directly appeals to the individual’s consciousness of his personal less-than-ideal existence —
My perception of the world.
My community.
My job.
My wages.
My healthcare.
I can’t afford.
My country.
Communism is framed as the solution to the problems the individual faces, despite the fact that it is a collectivist ideology that eliminates individuals who do not serve the greater good of “the people.”
As Francis G. Deevy explains, under communism —
Not a man but the social unit is of supreme importance. Man is denied his spiritual rights, his eternal purpose. He has no privileges that organised society is bound to respect. He exists only to be a cog in the machine. He can have no existence apart from society, no needs, no rights unless they be identified with the needs and rights of society. Reduced to practice, this means that the individual becomes the slave of a heartless, bloodless bureaucracy, which can use him, bend him or break him for its own whim or purpose. Should he lose his usefulness, he can be destroyed. It would not be murder, because the Communist society, not God, is the arbiter of morals.6
The individual’s well-being is appealed to, then, in order to bait him into becoming a slave of the collective, a cog in the socio-political machine.
Biblical Self-Interest
As I’ve noted elsewhere, the individual ontologically and socially precedes and determines the social body by entering into covenantal/contractual relationships with others.7 Man’s entrance into a social relationship with others, then, is predicated not on the needs of the social body, but on his own individual needs. If a man or a woman wants children, then it is in their best interest to find a helper comparable to themselves, enter into a marriage covenant (contract), and honor the stipulations of that social arrangement. This was the case with Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. However, it was even the case with man prior to his entering into a marriage covenant with Eve. Man’s position as “son of God”8 was partially due to his bearing of the divine image, but it was also conditioned upon his being in right covenant standing with God.9 What is more, his life and prosperity were conditioned upon his fulfillment of the covenant of works,10 which explicitly makes obedience to divine Law a matter of self-interest.
Throughout Scripture, moreover, we see that God repeatedly appeals to humans on this basis of self-interest. This is the case when he is speaking of the Law, as well as of the Gospel. Regarding the Law, it is in one’s best interest to obey and not rebel; regarding the Gospel, it is in one’s best interest to place one’s faith in the completed saving work of Jesus Christ and not one’s own works.
Consider the following passages —
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.”11
“Beware of [the Angel of the Lord] and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”12
“Therefore you shall keep every commandment which I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land which you cross over to possess, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
[…]
‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’”13
The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.14“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’”15
Verses like this could be multiplied many times over, but the ones cited should be sufficient to show that God calls men to do what is in their best interest. And this is only proper, seeing as humans are autonomous, rational, volitional agents who, thereby, image God, and do so by his design.
Collectivism — A Parasitic Ideology
Man is an individual, not a cog in the machinery of society. This is evident from our everyday observations, and from a straightforward reading of Scripture. Collectivism is foreign to human nature, and Scripture. It is a parasitic ideology that is only sustained by means of a marketing trick, a framing of itself as conducive to the very thing which it cannot produce, and which it aggressively opposes — individual well-being. What it offers with one hand, it takes away with the other. What is left for us to see are the ruins of individuals and, consequently, the societies which they form.
Before we get to that point in our own day, we would do well to consider the reasons why appeals to individual well-being are being made by collectivist activists, politicians, and religious leaders. The explanation for the appeal to the individual is not that we live in a world overrun by “expressive individualists.” Rather, the explanation is much more disturbing and, yet, simple — we are individuals who naturally and rightly seek out what is in our own best interest, and collectivists exploit that tendency in a bait and switch that is sometimes hard to identify.
The solution is not to condemn individualism, therefore, but to promote sound reasoning, and to nurture a desire in ourselves and others for the truth so that we all may gain what is in our own best interests.
—h.
See Santone, Michael. “LGBTQ Community Faces Internal Conflict,” Sept 13, 2017, The Advocate, https://cccadvocate.com/7364/opinion/lgbtq-community-faces-inner-conflict/; Rao, Sonia. “Dave Chappelle draws criticism for doubling down on jokes about the LGBTQ community,” Oct 7, 2021, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/10/07/dave-chappelle-netflix-special-controversy/.
See, for example, Dreyer, Yolanda. “Hegemony and the Internalisation of Homophobia Caused by Heteronormativity,” in HTS Teologiese Studies 63 (1), 2007; Cochrane, Kristine. “Why Heteronormativity Is a Bad Thing,” Teen Vogue, Sept 1, 2016, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/heteronormativity-gender-identity-sexual-orientation; Tompkins, Chris. “Why Heteronormativity is Harmful,” Learning for Justice, July 18, 2017, https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/why-heteronormativity-is-harmful; Jojannekevan der Toorn, Ruthie Pliskin, and Thekla Morgenroth, “Not Quite Over the Rainbow: The Unrelenting and Insidious Nature of Heteronormative Ideology,” in Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences Volume 34, Aug 2020, 160-165.
Reasons for de-transitioning can be categorized as external and internal (see Expósito-Campos, Pablo. “A Typology of Gender Detransition and Its Implications for Healthcare Providers” in Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy Vol 47 Issue 3 (2021), 270-280). In both cases, however, the implication is that there is an essential “sex”/ “gender” to which one is returning. See Parker Pehl, Emerson. “(Trans)Gender Fluidity,” Research Gate, July 2020, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342923352_TransGender_Fluidity; see also, Jack L. Turban, Stephanie S. Loo, Anthony N. Almazan, and Alex S. Keuroghlian. “Factors Leading to “Detransition” Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis,” in LGBT Health 8 (4), May/June 2021, 273–280.
“Communism as a Secret Individualism,” in Social Research Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sept.1950), 294.
“Communism and the Individual,” in The Irish Monthly Vol. 64, No. 759 (Sep.1936), 576. (emphasis added)
cf. Luke 3:38b.
cf. Luke 15:11-21 & 1st John 3:10-12.
For a succinct explanation of the Covenant of Works, see Riddlebarger, Kim. “Basics of the Reformed Faith: The Covenant of Works,” Westminster Seminary California Blog, July 29, 2011, https://www.wscal.edu/blog/basics-of-the-reformed-faith-the-covenant-of-works.
Ex 19:5.
Ex 23:21-22.
Deut 11:8-15.
Ps 19:7-11.
Mark 9:43-48.