Quote:
Originally posted by GrimShawn@Jan 20 2004, 12:56 PM
Very well put man. I've always found it odd how things work in society. At a very young age we are taught to "think outside the box" to "create your own path" and to "not follow others, to think for yourself."
We are taught to be our own person and to be a leader not a follower, yet when someone does take there own path or creates there own style they are an outcast.
I heard my entire childhood to be my own person and to always do what feels right to me, not to follow the "style" set by other people, yet I got a tattoo or two, pierced my eyebrow and ears and dressed my own style, I then got called a "freak" and was told I was trying to "rebell" from normal society. When that was not at all what I was doing, I was just wearing the clothing I liked and got tattooes cuz I liked them.
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I dont agree with this at all. we might be "told" these things. you might have been "taught" or "told" these things.
I do not believe that on the whole we are "taught" these things. What we learn in life is the exact opposite. We are exposed to a near infinite number of sensations, sights, sounds, feelings, emotions and so on everyday. We learn to take shortcuts. we NEED to take shortcuts. We lack the capacity to intellectualize the billions of sensory input signals we have everyday as people. Instead, we take shortcuts. We have learned to observe the behavior of others to determine what the correct behavior might be for ourselves. We see people looking up on the street, pointing to the sky in a panic, our own endorphins and addrenaline kicks in while anticipating the need for "fight or flight" and we look up as others did, expecting that there might be a threat. It's a very safe and normal behavior that will be correct 99.999% of the time. The risk of not doing so could be death. The risk of doing so is 0 (assuming your not placing yourself in danger while doing so).
An "individualist" or "non-conformist" might very well be killed in this situation as he would be unprepared for what threat may come while he is standing there criticising people for being "sheeple" and smugly mocking their behavior.
It's darwinism. It's millions of years of learning correct ways to behave in order to be ensure the survival of the organism.
We stereotype people so that we don't have to spend and innordinate amount of time intellectualizing every situation, action, intention etc. those stereotypes are more often correct than not... or they would not exist and it would not be a common behavior.
We have all learned to make assumptions enabling us to make decisions with less information and analysis, based on prior life experience or lessons learned. We do it because more often than not, it is effective and correct.
People in general behave in a very conformist way, because as a general rule, its a safe way to behave. It is a behavior that has been tested for 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 years and has made the cut.
Where would a rugged individualist zebra be if his individualist tendencies caused him to stand outside the herd or stray? How long would he survive?
There is no such thing as individualism in society. Societies are about conformity. Conformity to ideas, ideology, religions, beliefs and behaviors. show me a "rugged individual" and i will show you thousands just like him. If i can't, then most likely he is not a part of society (hermit living in the mountains for example). It's that very conformity that is the glue that holds a society together. There are no individuals in the sense that people like to think there are. [Labret] is a great example of that. He chooses to see himself as being special and unique. He enjoys mocking people as being "sheeple", while ignoring his own similar behaviors and his conformity in similar ways. I could easily argue that he is every bit as unique as the other millions of rebellious, tattoo covered, angry, bitter young kids listening to angry music and liking to think they reject society in every way while believing they have it all figured out. The prison system is full of them... they are a dime a dozen.