You seem to confuse obedience with connectedness and belonging. People are most obedient when they are desperate for connectedness of any kind. That is the real allure of fascism. Being alienated and desiring connectedness so much that people subdue themselves completely. That is why fascism is a right-wing thing. Mussolini said it should be called Corporatism. Fascism is the ruling class offering militant connectedness after they starve their communality through isolationist individuality.

Communality, connectedness and belonging are not obedience. China is very communal but they will revolt quickly to leaders who do not serve the community which they have done many times in their history. As Confucius said “It is not morally good to be wealthy and respected in a society that is poor and suffering”. That tradition requires people to revolt if the leadership is bad but to cooperate otherwise. That’s why a Harvard study conducted by the Ash Center showed that over 95% of Chinese were satisfied by their leadership, by far the highest anywhere. And no, don’t drink the cool aid of your Western media concerning China as I’m sure you now realize what Western media is about.

As for individualism allowing you to see others better, well we can see the effect in the US where people are so alienated by the mantra of individualism that it shows in myriad psychological pathologies. Eckhart Tolle rather rightly says “You can only see yourself in others".

As for religion, I absolutely loathe all religions. I was born Christian but rejected that demented dogma at a very early age. The civil war in my country during my teens confirmed to me the true face of Christianity. Why else would Constantine choose it as Rome’s religion but not adopt it himself?

As for the people you cited, I know the works of MLK (I love), Gandhi (insipid), Tolstoy (great), Victor Hugo (great, read his works in French) and Erich Fromm (good). It’s funny you should mention Erich Fromm who wrote “Escape from Freedom”. In that book, he says what I iterated above that individualism leads to alienation which leads to authoritarianism.

Concerning the evils of religion, I recommend reading Bertrand’s Russell’s “Why I am not a Christian” (short and sweet). If you’re already a non-believer and enjoy strong condemnation of religion then read “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins.

Thanks for responding. I wish we could chat over coffee together but we’re continents apart even if you were willing.