We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism, Mamdani announced to cheers from the supporters during his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday. The comment drew a quick clapback from Dmitriev, the Harvard-educated head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who directly addressed the self-described democratic socialist via X as comrade. He also panned Mamdani's left-wing ideas with a friendly reminder that collectivism has already been tried.
We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism, vowed Mamdani to cheers from the audience during his swearing-in ceremony. Conservatives on social media, however, were less attracted to the idea. So many people have fled Communism and forced collectivism. Watching one of the largest cities elect someone who wants to impose that ideology here is horrific. This isn't just about rhetoric. The human costs of these policies will be very real. Best of luck, NYC.
Contemporary Western culture strongly prefers locating the problems that bring people to psychotherapy within the individual. When we conceptualize mental health as an individual problem without adequately considering the social and cultural components, it becomes easy to reduce mental health to a product that can be marketed and sold. This simplified version of mental health becomes a commodity of neoliberalism, a philosophy that emphasizes capitalism, free markets, individual rights, and private property rights, amongst other values (Harvey, 2005).
