Community

I think that individual and system responsibility, as Richard said in his essay, go hand-in-hand.

The way I see things, we're a community, and in communities, there has to co-operation and a degree of collective responsibility, even when individuality is given the respect it deserves. Communities have certain responsibilities to each other and to the world at large, and I think that plural systems are like that, too. If someone does something that's dangerous or harmful to the rest of the community, or the world at large, it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that things run smoothly, and that person is talked to. Acting in a certain way towards the other people in your community reflects badly on the community, and it might affect the way the world at large sees you, too. (I'm saying this from experience; I have done a lot of dumb shit and it has ended up backfiring on me, tremendously, which has led me to a more communitarian view of me and my system.)

Communities are made up of individuals, and as individuals, people have responsibility to themselves. Before people in charge of the community step in, you yourself should try and make sure that what you're doing isn't going to affect everyone negatively. (That's kind of hard to do when you don't necessarily know what's 'right' to do socially, but I'm not talking about those situations; I'm talking about when you do know the difference.) For example, I should try to keep myself from doing something self-destructive before Richard feels that he has to step in, because if I am aware of what I'm doing, and keep myself from doing whatever it is that's not good, then I am showing responsibility for myself and the rest of my community.

Where system solidarity is concerned, I think that it's pretty important, because it shows that you can be proud of the rest of your community, and when you take pride in your community, you can take steps to act in a way that reflects well on your community, rather than just seeing yourselves as a collection of individuals that may do things that reflect badly on the group, especially when people they interact with place a higher premium on system responsibility than they might.