Which is more important, the community or the individual?

Question: Which is more important, the community or the individual!?

Explain your answer!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Individuals maketh the community ;-)

but the collective becomes a Gestalt with an existence of its own!.
Ayn Rand's Objectivism put the individual before society!. and i believe that if I, as a person, am not happy, I cannot contribute positively to myself or to the community!.
However no individual can survive without support from community!. this support comes in the form of providing academic facilities, food & shelter, entertainment, employment, health-care, transport, religion, governance!.!.!.!.besides self-help or support-groups for specific needs!.
it is the community which has built a network of facilities to take care of all our personal needs so that we can claim from the rooftops that individual is supreme!. why is it that the moment tragedy strikes, people seek the company & support of others or tend to gather together to fight/fend against natural calamities!? so, when the going is good, individualism rules, but in times of crisis, we become "social"!.

that's my 2-penny worth!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

>>Individualism is much more common in Europe!.

If there ever was a reason NOT to be individualistic, this is it!. There is nothing about the Europeans I would want to emulate!.

Besides, what did Spock say!? "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - or the one!."
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EDIT:
Judging by your name!.!.!.in case you are concerned that community somehow implies socialism, it doesn't necessarily have to!. We can be "our brother's keeper", without it being socialistic - using what they call "faith-based organizations", and not the Government!. If I throw myself on a hand grenade - the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one - it is not socialistic, but merely self sacrifice!.

Unfortunately, welfare & universal healthcare are heading down the wrong road!. The recent "redistribution of wealth" comments by a noted politician is a little troubling also!.

So, ultimately the community is more important, if governed responsibly!. IMHOWww@QuestionHome@Com

I think in the United states, it is the individual, because they can impact the community!. The Individual always comes first, then the community, but you cannot have one without the other I believe!. In a collectivist society even then you need individual!. But here in the US, individuality definately, I mean a person on welfare depends on INDIVIDUALS to help them live!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The individual!. I put myself before others---that's human nature!. Don't screw me about it!. I have more profound reasons, but I am too tired to explain something which I have explained to myself many times before!.

Individualism is much more common in Europe!. America lacks, and/or has no individualism!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Community is another word for individuals!Www@QuestionHome@Com