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The average human being was, is, and will always be subjected to rejection by peers when diverging from the flock. This is not a new phenomenon; this has been part of the human nature as far as we can remember. The mass is always judging individuals or group of individuals for having a different point of view, and this even led to bloody wars throughout our history. Having a different point of view, different ideas and tastes than what is referred to as “the norm”, will grant you, more than often, negative judgment from others. But why is this so? Why society say human beings are individuals, but at the same time, pressure us into loosing our individuality, into conformism?
There are many examples of this kind of behavior in our modern society. One that might come to mind is politics. In the United States of America, you’re either a Republican, or a Democrat. The simple idea that someone could find good and bad points to both parties is as alien as an E.T. from Alpha Centauri. If you say you’re not a Republican, people automatically think you’re a Democrat. The other way around is also true. No one can freely think “outside of the box” anymore, for fear of being labeled a “wacko”. Society pressures us into one mold, a unified template of thought, and those that don’t fit in are thrown aside into the wastebasket.
This problem is also particularly relevant when dealing with other subjective material such as fashion, for example. Like fashion, anything that appeals to our distinctive tastes is subjected to this problem. People not wearing a particular brand might be thrown away by others, or simply looked at as an “inferior” being. Not liking a movie or music band that people have put on popularity billboards will grant you a “weird person” tag.
Truth is, to have a truly independent mind is a though bout.
Forging our own ideas is not often encouraged, when not entirely discouraged. In the age of the internet, anyone can find a source to back up their claim or manipulate numbers and facts to make them supportive of their cause. It’s only a matter of tuning to likely minded individual or organizations websites, and you’ll end up with plenty bogus arguments to support your own ideas. But the important thing here isn’t the faulty argumentation or bogus statistics. It’s about the fact that anyone not thinking along is viewed as an “enemy”. And this is particularly evident when dealing with younger people.
Is it that people, out of fear of being left alone, are trying as much as they can to protect their collectivity, group or party? Probably. But this also highlights another thing. The only reason why these collectivities are staying afloat is that they all try to impose a way of thought, and this unique way of thinking becomes the sole element that ties most of these people together. All of this is quite absurd, if we’re to believe that human beings are all different. We are not ants, nor are we bees. We’re individuals, and we were all given an individual brain. We have everything to be able to think by ourselves, to choose what we like and don’t like for various reasons. By associating ourselves with a group, we’re more than often short-circuiting our own brain, our own individuality. It’s an abortion of our personality, of our free thoughts.
In a group of teenagers, something as trivial as not wearing the right brand of shoes might get you excluded. Or not liking the same videogames as others. Or not thinking that a particular teacher is dumb. So this type of thing starts at a very young age. Children are taught that to make friends, you should do and think like others. Children are indoctrinated in this type of mentality at a very young age, and naturally, this carries on into adulthood for most of them. So not only it is hard for those who want to stay themselves, but it’s even harder for those who want to break out after having been into the mold for too long.
The only way this is going to change, is to free your mind yourself, and encourage others to do so. We should all be able to think by ourselves, and to understand that different people might like different things. Reclaim your own personality. Stop being a follower. We’re all unique individuals, whether you like it or not. We should all act like it. Otherwise, we’re just a parody of a human being.
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