Individuality, it seems, has not been respected for too long. It is more than just a few decades, no? The increase in disrespect for individuality, even coming from those who think they are expressing their individuality most pronouncedly, is part of the problem our freedom faces.
An erosion of liberty is a problem for any society wishing to uphold anything like the Four Freedoms of the First Amendment–and liberty is eroding. The Patriot Act was/is a heinous call to fear, a succumbing on the people’s part to the basest instincts of their homo-sapiens‘ nature. Not much in the way of our humanity remains.
Nature is not civilization; civilization is not Nature. I have not put them in diametric opposition, nor have I categorized them as mutually exclusive or as mutually annihilating forces such as matter and anti-matter. However, they are not to be mutually handled or mixed without care and intelligence, the kind we seem incapable of at present.
Individual Divided
The Falling Leaf Review 