You’re not a “rugged individual.”

You’re just a cancerous cell content with killing off the whole.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Ah, the rugged individual! The very embodiment of the American spirit. The idea that anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and achieve greatness through sheer determination and grit. It’s a myth so ingrained in our culture that we’ve built entire industries around it: from self-help books to motivational speakers, all promising to unleash our inner cowboy and conquer the world.

But let’s be real, shall we? The rugged individual is a romanticized fantasy, a relic of a bygone era. Today, the only people who truly embody this ideal are those who live off the grid, hunting their own food and building their own homes in the wilderness. And even they probably have a smartphone tucked away in their pocket.

In modern society, the rugged individual is a dying breed. We’re all interconnected, interdependent, and reliant on each other in countless ways. We rely on the government to build roads, bridges, and schools. We rely on corporations to provide us with food, shelter, and entertainment. We rely on technology to keep us connected, informed, and entertained. We’re all cogs in a giant machine, and the idea that any one person can rise above it all through sheer force of will is nothing but a pipe dream.