"Illegality" in Relation to Individualist vs. Collectivist Ideology

       I wanted to expand on a concept that Megan introduced in her blog post regarding illegality, featuring a cartoon depicting European settlers as the first illegal immigrants. On the internet I found this cartoon:

      

       Humans have an interesting habit of claiming what's theirs. Since childhood, we are taught about possession: this is mine, that is yours. Individualism is especially emphasized in Western European and American culture, with little to no emphasis on the collective community. Individualistic habits tend to snowball; Once one becomes comfortable making barriers of what belongs to him/her, and once the concept becomes mainstream -- stressed in culture, accepted, solidified -- then it can expand to incredibly drastic and overwhelming circumstances. Such is seen in European expansion to the Americas, and the pervading emphasis on possession, of "mine."

      Perhaps, then, the notion of "illegality" is a by-product of individualist emphasis. It stems from the tensions between individual and collective ideals. The reason it exists in the U.S. relates to the dominating European individualist ideology, rather than a more collectivist-based culture's experience. The reason illegality is even an issue in American culture stems from its roots of superior, individualistic ideology of the European settlers.

It wasn’t until high school that I pondered the fact that Europeans first expanding into the U.S. hold an equal amount of illegality to any other person wishing to enter the country. The only difference is that the European’s individualistic sense of superiority was so dramatically emphasized that they were able to actually go through the process of expansion, unfortunately demolishing anyone who stood in their way.