In order for a revolution to thrive, it need to be supported by a unified group of people. A radical change in society cannot be brought on by a single man or by a group of divided members. Historically, the most successful revolutions - like that of France in 1789 – were strong because they had a huge support system, which was united by their cause. Being on our own renders us completely unable to spark change in our society. Despite this, we are on our own in many aspects of modern life. This loneliness in our everyday lives leads us to believe that we don’t need and shouldn’t want the assistance of others. This path only leads to failure when it comes to encouraging big change, but we continue to choose it more and more every day.
The 1960’s in the United States are remembered for a lot of things, and one of the most defining was the Civil Rights movement. The journey was difficult and long, but the revolutionaries eventually prevailed. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed, and the country’s social norms were toppled over. Although this marked the beginning of the end of this discrimination, there was still a long road ahead due to a lingering massive opposition to equality. In the early sixties, James Baldwin, an integrationist and the author of The Fire Next Time, posed the question, “Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?” (Baldwin 27). Baldwin poses this question because although he has hopes that his people will be granted equality, he knows that there will be a lack of unity. This absence of harmony strips meaning from the revolution. African Americans could legally earn their equality, but true equality would come through unity and peace with the white race.
The Civil Rights Movement is very telling about what prejudice does to us: Prejudice isolates us. We find the need to divide ourselves from those who don’t share the beliefs and/ or background that we have. Although we might not agree with how some people live their lives, we should all unite through our humanity. It is difficult to unite with those who are different than us, but if we as individuals isolate ourselves from any group of people, we are effectively dividing and hurting our society and ourselves. Baldwin explains this as, “Whoever debases other is debasing himself” (Baldwin 82). We hurt each other and ourselves when we try to distance ourselves from others.
Technology is, without doubt, powerful. It allows humanity to live longer, easier, and better lives. In this day and age, technology now allows us to communicate instantly with almost anyone, at almost any place, and at almost any time. In some cases, this is a huge benefit, but this convenience hinders our face-to-face interactions. We as a society tend to isolate ourselves through our use of social media as an alternative to interacting in person. We now can see that there were early warning sign to this isolationism: In 1998, a research team from Carnegie Mellon University found that increased internet usage was already coinciding with increased loneliness (Marche 5). This isolationism interferes with our ability to come together in support of revolutionary ideas.
Those who are alone deeply hurt their health. Studies show that those who are alone are more likely to be obese, have hormonal imbalances, develop mental illnesses, have cognitive decline, and are more likely to be put in a geriatric home at an earlier age. Lonely people are less likely to exercise and survive a serious operation. Despite all the ill effects of isolationism, the average American saves and spends their money with the goal of this isolation in mind. Those with money leave the city to get a larger house in the suburbs, or even a mass-produced mansion in the exurbs. Once they flee the city, they get to spend more time alone in their car commuting back to the city. This American value of solitude reaches back to the pilgrims, who left their structured European society for the far away New World. Americans tend to place so much emphasis on being self-sufficient and individual that they are willing to take the loneliness that comes along with it (March 4). With the American initiative to find isolation and the ill health effects of the loneliness that accompanies it, society has difficulty uniting and supporting itself.
Over all, isolationism is a detriment to society. It inhibits meaningful revolution and damages people’s health. Yet, Americans seek isolation and view it as a privilege. Technology has only made our loneliness worse. By uniting together people can make good changes in their society, but they have to get over the differences that first divided them.