The Isolationist

To be an isolationist is to shun social media and the philosophies of our growing narcissistic society. I am an isolationist to a varying degree. I do not care how many friends I have or how many Facebook friends I have. True friends do not grow on trees, they are hard to find. A friend is a person that will do anything for you at any time – a friend after all, is not a self-serving narcissist. I have been fortunate to find a few true friends. Other than that I have a few acquaintances.

As an isolationist I am not rude. I wave and say hi to everyone. I hold doors open for people and help people carry their bags. An isolationist talks to others and is friendly in public. An isolationist does not think they are better than anyone else, it is a belief or theory, not a reason to be anti-social. In fact, it is the narcissist and social media followers that are too busy looking at their phones to be social.

As a true isolationist, I also do not like to join groups, organizations, charities, or committees. Every such activity has an agenda and is political to some degree. These groups try to raise money from strangers and even sometimes from people they know – I could never do such a task. I do not even like being on a cycling team. Yes, a cycling team has an agenda. They want local tax revenue to be used for bike trails and safer roads. Yes, this would be great, but I am not superficial enough to realize that using tax money for these purposes would be a low priority on most people’s lists. It is hard to argue that tax money should go to a bike route over education for instance. On the other hand, in our narcissistic times, it seems most people are in a competition to see who can support and join the most organizations.

An isolationist does not have to completely cut themselves off from society. For instance, I prefer to give to local charities to help someone in need where I am more confident my money is going directly to the cause I intended (I will do so anonymously – to maintain my isolationism traits and not draw attention to myself). Narcissism and a vast number of charities, groups, and organizations tends to lead to more fraud, chaos, and inefficiency in society.

An isolationist in real life is a true minority. But, and isolationist (laissez-faire) political belief is quite common. Basically conservatives believe in laissez-faire for domestic policy whereas a liberal believes in laissez-faire in foreign policy. My beliefs tend to follow how I live, so I actually believe in isolationism for both foreign and domestic policy. I practice what I preach. For example, it is not fair for me to preach federal fiscal responsibility and not practice it in my life. That is hypocrisy. I realize that it is almost impossible for the United States to be the leader in the free world and follow a true isolationist policy. But, we can certainly be more isolated from foreign affairs than we are. It is certainly a narcissistic belief to think we can actually help and save everyone.

In my opinion, it just simply does not make sense to want isolationism for one thing and not for another. I also do not understand how millennials can support an isolationism foreign policy but at the same time measure their own success by narcissistic means such as friends on Facebook. Most people do not truly practice an isolationist theology in the real world. Hence, I find it perplexing that over 90% of the American population believes the United States should follow an isolationist policy for either domestic or foreign policy. If we practiced what expect from the federal government, then maybe there would be no need for social mediums which can be inherently evil on so many levels – identity theft, infidelity, other crimes / bullying, recruiting terrorists, and ironically teaching individuals anti-social behaviors.

Is it really practical to think the federal government can solve every domestic problem and foreign dispute? No, it is not. Is it really practical for there to be millions of charities, clubs, and organizations? Of course not. Just as it is impractical for people to have thousands of friends. Isolationism may not be ideal, but it is better than narcissism, it is much more realistic.