MANY claim that we are entering an era which marks the end of ideologies and the death of “isms”. Communism dissolved with the Soviet Union. Capitalism is seen as cruel. Idealism has been trumped by cynicism, but the latter too is frowned upon; after all, who likes naysayers and pessimists? Whether or not one agrees with this thesis, there is certainly one “ism” that now rules the roost: individualism.