Member-only story
Rugged Individualism
The fastest way to kill yourself slowly over a long period of time
Disclaimer: The words that follow are solely the opinion of the author and are inevitably wrong. The best stuff is in the hyperlinks. Please enjoy.
You like living alone. You like having total control over all of your entertainment options. You like arranging your living space exactly how you want without any creative input from other people who don’t share your immaculate taste. That pizza box looks mother trucking fantastic in the corner on top of that Xbox and/or pile of unwashed sports bras, and ain’t nobody gonna tell you otherwise.
You like that you don’t have to talk to anyone about the weather. Small talk sucks! Clouds can eat shit! Memes are your real friend. Memes get you. Also, that video of that monkey smelling its finger and passing out? Yea, that video gets you. It completes you. That monkey had you at hello.
You don’t need anybody on your beautiful lonely internet monkey island. You have the lonely island to keep you company. You got your flippy floppies. You got GrubHub, Amazon, and the blog you’re writing. You don’t need no one. At least, that’s what we seem to be trying to convince ourselves of these days.
Question is, at this point in human history, do we have seriously convincing scientific proof that individual human beings are better off living in groups? Yes. Evidence that social support and interaction is critical to our health? Yes. Our quality and quantity of life? Yep. The evidence is overwhelming.
How many blow darts have you blown into a baboon’s ass? That’s what I thought.
You may object that, for some individuals, trying to live as part of a group is damaging to their health. The group may treat them poorly for a variety of reasons, both just and unjust. True. It sucks to be part of a group when the group doesn’t accept you.
Still, if you want optimum health, Machiavelli got it wrong¹ when he said that it is better to be feared than loved, and we have the medical evidence to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. It is better to be loved than feared.
