Ragged Individualism 0
University of South Florida Professor Murad Antia notes that, the United States had 12.5 times more deaths from COVID-19 than did Japan as a percentage of population. Indeed, he notes that Florida, with a population about one-fifth Japan’s, had more deaths than Japan.
He looks at some of the cultural issues which he suggests contributed to this. Here’s a snippet:
Here, on the other hand, we have a lot more freedom to do as we like, with dire consequences sometimes. Americans seem to favor individual rights over collective rights. In times of collective crises like World War II, collective rights have taken precedence, but only temporarily. In a nation where “rugged individualism” is infused in its DNA, individual rights eventually take precedence. We witness it in debates over gun control, education, climate change and health care.
(Broken tag fixed.)
