The 'masses' sometimes do things that are downright wrong.
The 'masses' enslaved blacks in America, other white countries and in Africa. Only 'individuals' were able to stand up against this.
The 'masses' (and this includes blacks), 'condoned' or did not take a stand against Jim Crow after slavery ended. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X 'individuals' took a stand and got 'masses' of black people to realize they needed to stop taking **** from white culture.
The 'masses' have condoned female circumcision in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Individuals are helping to make a stand to the point that the 'masses' are able to see that practice is wrong and even eliminate it from their cultures; seeking alternatives to the social reasoning on why that practice was used to begin with.
The 'masses' are still doing things all over the world in every race and culture that only 'individuals' have the balls to make a stand against.
So in conclusion, if the community is going in a good direction, doing things that is not physically or emotionally harming someone else, then individualism is not important. But if a community is doing something that is wrong, individualism may be the only element that would stop the negative behavior.