I am an Individualist, - Maksim Khier

By Maksim Khier. This speech was made during the first "I am an Individualist" contest at AUCA in Bishkek.

“We want changes!” – this is probably the most famous slogan in our country. We are not satisfied with the economical and political situation. The question is “do we need to apply some direct changes in our economy or political system?” Perhaps we do. But what is more important and should be done firstly is changing the thinking of our people. I strongly believe that changes in minds will bring much more powerful results than any direct changes. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian nation, implemented his reforms not by creating new laws but by affecting the thinking of people.

        We live in a democratic country. But did we really understand what democracy is? What are the fundamental principles of it? Democracy is not just giving freedom to everybody. It is also the understanding of each individual what that freedom is for and what the limits of that freedom are. For us democracy is making revolutions when the government officials failed to perform well. And then what? Then the elections follow on which the same officials come to power again.

In my opinion the key to understanding the behavior of people in Kyrgyzstan is our collectivist past. We were a part of the Soviet Union, the bright example of collectivist society where the group played the most important role. People in Kyrgyzstan still have the same kind of thinking. But the time of the Soviet Union passed. We live in a new country. So, we need to think in a new way! Today I will prove that individualistic society is what we really need!

First of all let’s clarify what individualism is. Individualism does not mean the alienation of a person. It does not mean that a person cares only about himself and reaches his goals at the expense of others. Individualism means that man is an independent entity with the right to the pursuit of his own happiness in a society where men deal with one another as equals. Individualism is the philosophy which tells us to express ourselves, not to follow the general trend, to be as we are. Of course, the concept “to be as we are” is not limitless. It is restricted when one person is hurt by actions of another. In individualism the duty of government is to protect the individual rights of citizens, and the duty of a citizen is to know his rights and respect the rights of others.

 So, why do we need individualistic society? Let’s consider probably the most important thing for each person – freedom. In individualism personal freedom is the essence of its philosophy. Each person is unique and has innate rights of free actions, speech, choice, thoughts etc. Each person first of all has to know who he is and what he needs. Each person has his own dignity, not the dignity of the society of which he belongs to. Ayn Rand said “There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence.” So, independence is freedom. Thus, we can conclude that freedom is impossible in collectivism because a person depends on the group, he has no personal identity, he is only part of that group, he has to follow the rules of the group.

One of the main slogans of collective societies is that “everybody should be equal.” That’s why those societies force people to be equal. Usually, the personal rights are being suppressed. People are told how to dress, behave, talk and even think! But is it true equality? I think two people are equal not when they are dressed similarly, listen to the same music, have the same political views and salary, but when both of them have the right to choose how to dress, what to listen, what political party to support and earn as much money as they can! Individualism provides free choice and thus equality!     

Collectivism imprisons a person because it forbids him to think freely! Censorship and harsh criticism don’t let a person to be creative, inventive and initiative! Many great inventions were ignored in the Soviet Union and accepted beyond its borders. The technological success of Japan and the United States has to do with their policy of accepting and elaborating all of the individual ideas. The progress does not depend only on people, it also depends on how we treat those people. Individualism teaches us to consider all of the opinions and ideas and make the best out of them!

All of us have encountered the collectivist thinking in our lives. Remember school? Everyone of us either cheated or helped somebody to cheat at school. Personally I usually helped others. Why did I do that? Well, at that time I wasn’t even giving a thought about it! I supposed this was how it should be! To help our friends, classmates is our duty. But when I started to study in the United States I was astonished that high school students don’t help each other. First I thought “Oh my God, how selfish they are!!!” But then I realized that it is not selfishness, it is their culture and mentality. Americans believe that a person should reach everything by himself. In such a way he will be strong, determined and responsible.

So, let’s think what we really do when we cheat at school. Cheating makes people irresponsible and lazy. “Why should I do homework if I can copy it from my friend?” Homework itself is not a big deal. Right now I am not even talking about knowledge. I am saying that the person gets used to rely on the work of other people from collective! A person’s character shapes mostly during school time. So, his irresponsibility which was shaped in the school will accompany him during his whole life, life of a parasite! And as we can see there are many parasites in our country – high level of corruption is the bright example!  

I have a friend who lives in South Korea. She told me that if you ask some student over there to copy his work he will look at you like “Are you crazy?” no matter if it is just your classmate or even your friend. People there are used to do everything by themselves, they are hard-workers, responsible and determined. The result is that South Korea is one of the most prosperous countries in the world!

Now let’s look at the economic aspect of individualist and collectivist thinking. In collectivism the output of the whole group is distributed equally among the members of that group. That means that whether you worked hard or not you will get the same amount as everybody else. Is it fair? Of course, not! Such a system discourages people to work hard! “Why should I work harder if in the end I will get the same salary as my lazy colleague?” So, the productivity falls. In the other hand, in individualist society the income of a person depends only on his work. That encourages a person to work harder. So, the productivity is high.

Collectivists claim that the common good must be above everything. Everybody should be able to use the fruits of work of the society equally so that everybody would be happy. Sounds great, but… My father lived in China during the times of Cultural Revolution when everything belonged to the community for the sake of common good. People worked for the community, not for themselves. My father told me that people did not care about the results of their work, did not care about the property and livestock. Indeed, why would somebody want to care about the property which does not really belong to him? They did not work much, ate all the livestock! And then… Then the terrible long-lasted hunger started! Millions of people died! In such a situation we can’t even talk about economic development! I don’t want to experience what my father experienced at that time! I learned the lesson – common good means nobody’s good! General happiness can not be achieved through general suffering. As Ayn Rand said “The only happy society is one of happy individuals. One cannot have a healthy forest made up of rotten trees.”

The key to the economic growth lies in individualist views – private property, less government intervention and free-market system! Free-market system proved to be the most effective! Each individual who tries to develop his own business also contributes to the general economic growth. Look at Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. Those countries experienced economic boom because of establishing free-market system where individual exchange goes freely without anybody’s intervention relying only on one’s own desires and needs. It is fare! It is progressive!

I hope there is already enough evidence for you to understand that we need individual thinking in order to come to some substantial results. We need to understand that achieving common good through somebody’s directions is just an illusion. Each person is different and knows exactly what he or she needs. General happiness can be achieved only through the happiness of each individual! We need to understand that democracy is not a synonym of revolution, it is knowing of each individual his rights and using these rights on the daily basis. We have to be more responsible and teach children responsibility from the early childhood.

If you ask me “What’s the difference between my life and the life of my father” I would say “My father didn’t have a choice how to live! I have it!” We have to make the right choice. We have to believe in ourselves as in independent individuals and respect the rights of others, and then our country will definitely prosper!!!