>>11
The only reason you don't turn into commie monsters is because you have the option of being "selfish" and leaving the collective if they ever decide to crack out the kool aid.
You said yourself..
Neither is useful or desirable in its extreme form.
Yet now you say individualism is only selfish while altruistic solidarity is the goodliest thing in the world, in reality what has happened, in practical terms, is you have democratized a niche in the economy and made an inaccurate assessment of the reasons for it's success. The situation is inverse in your relationship with the police who are the face of extreme collectivism, the police are not there because they feel like oppressing you, they are paid by the state to do so which is a thoroughly collectivized institution, they are the manifestation of the abstract concept of situations where collectivism conflicts with individualism. You understand how individual "selfishness" conflicts with the common good of the collective, it's the other way round here, what the collective thinks is good conflicts with what is good for you as an individual, so they send the cops round to beat you with night sticks.