Farewell, Pioneers

 

Professor J, 

Staying home, and spending hours in bed with fun gadgets like humidifiers gives a girl time to think. I was a bit surprised when I tried to find research about the use of pioneer and cowboy imagery in American political speech no one seems to have written about it. (I'm talking to you, political science majors.)

I wonder if our self made man, every man for himself, pioneer spirit is killing America. And if we just don't see it yet. We are still enamored by the idea of cowboys and rags to riches stories. Work hard, don't give up, and keep chasing the American Dream.

The thing that made us great under completely different circumstances won't keep us great under the new interconnected conditions.

While reading about how standardized testing is harming our students' ability to think, discussing the sad concept of community our culture has (thanks, Rush), and wondering how we became such a great nation and achieved so many miraculous things something began to sink in. That pioneer spirit was grand. And necessary. It's part of our national psyche and identity still used in advertising and political speeches and we think it's a good thing. Much has been written about the image of the cowboy on American society. We are tied to it. Just think how often the term "pioneer" gets thrown around as a description of anyone who does anything unusually new. Except that now we are tied by it. The time for it (warning: sacrilege to follow) may have passed.

Here's why: A nation born out of a desire for liberty and personal freedom needs pioneers. A country with vast expanses that need to be tamed needs those willing to live alone with their families and be self sufficient. There was much hard work to do early on, nearly impossible work it seems at times, and a particular attitude of independence was necessary. Frontiers are opened up by those who are willing to forgo the comforts of community. Winds howling across open plains without a single other person must have whispered "You don't need anyone."

The problem is the frontier is gone, unless you are going to space. We live in well run cities and towns where people have been living and working together for over a hundred years. The pioneer spirit that was a necessity is now holding us back from finding solutions and working together. But the idea of it is tightly bound in our popular self image. I suspect it's the underlying attitude behind things like Doomsday Preppers, where people actually seem to look forward to an event where they envision they could ward off disaster for their families, alone.

In worst case scenarios, however, it isn't that you won't need anyone, it's that you'll need everyone.

I see this attitude as contributing to the polarization we are seeing as well. It's hard to be proven wrong in your own little fiefdom. You can insulate yourself from those who think differently while finding a channel to get your views reinforced. Not knowing anyone different than you, because your frontier (front yard) insulates you is convenient for maintaining those maverick attitudes. It keeps all of us from getting together to pinpoint real problems and forming alliances for solving them.

The people with the real power must love that. 

I love the picture I've included with this post. The solitude, toughness, and independent spirit it captures aren't bad things. But it may be time for that not to be worn on our collective sleeve anymore. We need that attitude deep down inside, to know that when things are really bad we have what it takes to go it alone if we have to.  But in our day to day lives the more valuable skill may be collaboration.

The time has come to embrace the power of us. 

How to do that without people succumbing to group think or losing their sense of individuality is an entirely different can of worms. :)