January 18, 2020 (reddit.com)

Most cultures have their mythologies centered around heroes who are not like other people. They don’t always have to be born from a meaningful family, although often are (e.g. half god, royal family, etc.), but even if they are from common people those are always exceptional individuals, either stronger or wiser or have some unnatural talent that others don’t. They can therefore overcome struggles that would not be possible for everyone else and lead towards success in whatever way it is needed for given community.

It became so ingrained into our culture, that in form of Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” it is considered pretty much copy paste for a good storytelling and also is being taught in film schools, which results in further teaching us that whatever problem we might have as a society, in order to overcome it we need those exceptional individuals, some hero, messiah or a leader. Even if the underlying issue is systemic, there is always need for a special person to do the hard work, or at least show direction and be the symbol of a struggle that others can follow.

I know that Campbell based his research on many different cultures around the world, so it would seem this is the way it always worked for pretty much every culture ever, but what I’m really interested is if there ever was any alternative?

Do you know of any culture that did not praise exceptional individuals over group effort? Or at least taught in their tales that you don’t need to be special in order to make a meaningful change, that it can come from regular people working hard, together?

I’d gladly take any example I could further read about, be it a culture, specific myth/tale, or anything at all, since I don’t really have any clue right now. Thanks!

Comment:

IANAA so this might be a bit vague. I think it was an account from Noah Harari’s Sapiens, but I’ll try to track down the source if someone else can’t clarify.

An anthropologist bought a cow for a group of hunter-gatherers to thank them for helping with his research. He got the biggest fastest cow he could find, but when he presented it to them they seemed indifferent. Saying things along the lines of; it’s a scrawny thing but it will have to do.

Confused and a little hurt he asked one of them what was wrong with his gift. They explained that if they gave anyone too much praise for their contribution to the tribe they might get a big head. Since gathering food was a group effort that could end badly.

In a society without a ruling class, the best hunter might try to lord their skills over the rest. So to avoid a break down of social cohesion individual achievements were downplayed. Seems like as soon as big men, like kings, gain a foothold that concept has been replaced by one of extraordinary individuals.

The story is told in Eating Christmas in the Kalahari, by Richard Lee.