Sigh..duck. I am being such an insomniac, I think Im out of the woods tho. I should get back to my oil pastels, but interesting conversation is always good too. And the topic of conformity is quite and interesting one. I must say I am definately seeing counter culture on this site, in the very fact that people want to debate an interesting question. On xanga, I rant and rave without so much as a comment except the occasional "ur cute... whats ur poem about?" which is highly amusing. I dont expect people to get references to the priory of sion, but "oh captain my captain"? Im sorry if u dont get that reference... umm... watch dead poet society or get a walt witman poetry book or something, its an amazing poem, hell, google it. Ug, Im already off topic, anyway, what is counter culture? Free thinking perhaps. Not non-conformity which is by definition a type of conformity, tho. Non conformity still has u looking at the norm and reacting to it. The opposite of the norm is still determined by the norm. The idea of counter culture is to invent. What is in ur heart and soul, think about it, be sincere and true to urself. How cliche. Ah Sidhartha, the inconsistancy of words u spoke of... so true. (Im referring to the book, not the historical figure who may or may not have commented on the suject of words). Pink is a normal color for a girl to like. Its my favorite color. My liking of pink has nothign to do with its status, however. I like pink cuz in my circle of Wicca pink is used to represent courage, a virtue I find to be most important. For us it took more courage to admit comonalities with the collective norm (or normies), thus pink was a logical color to represent this. Mind u this was long before the whole "pink is the new black" crap. I am what I am, some of it interesects withthe norm, some of it doesnt. Its irrelevant, I have reasons behind everythign I do, logic, thought, ect. None of this "cuz I feel like it" shit. Outsiders are not just counter culture. To be an outsider u hafta be a bit angry I spose. U hafta want to change the system. Usually uve been wronged by it. Call 911 on ur abusive dad a few times and get ignored by the cops, get fired for ur religion or sexuality a few times, ul get angry. It is important to accept ones emotions, like anger, and find positive ways of outletting them, like activism and art. And writing angry blog rants tee hee. These people with anger, pain, and experience fuel their art and their desire to change the system, they are outsiders. Everyone is unique, tho, its a matter of using it. Chosing to use it. Those who dont are normies, altho, most people are in the middle. They think some things thru and never question others. Altho, I tend to use normies to refer ot the collective not to individuals (I will admit I have in anger and also called them stupid or something of the like eventho I don't believe its a lack of intelligence so much as a lack of using it). Like any philosopher, I try to question anything and everything. I think it was Locke who said it was the duty of the individual to question society. I know for certain he said it is the duty of a citizen to rise up against a tyranical leader; he spurred the American Revolution, but enough of a history lesson. It seems when I read the past I stumble upon so many who I wish I could talk to and debate with. Where are the philosophers of our generation? Prolly playing a video game somewhere, never learning to fulfill their own potential considering the lack of decent education, but dont get me started on the school system, as someone graduating from an ivy league school w/ a pure math degree at 19 who would gladly teach high school to help rectify the problem would I not most likely be fired the second they found out Im gay or Wiccan. Anyway, it is most certainly not balck and white, but I tend to recognize outsiders, be drawn to them and they seem feel the same effects. U needn't all be the same for cohessiveness and freindship. I know not on single person like me inside or out, and I wouldn't want to. The bond I share with fellow outsiders is just hope. In a song I wrote once I said "Is it possible to just know somethin u neva leant before/ Or to know someone so completely by the hope they fightin for". There is this dire sense that there is something terribly wrong with the universe. Something important that should be happening as peopel twiddle their thumbs in their insignificant lives never looking for more. We hope there is more, we hope we can find it, in ourselves, in each other, and in change. Ok enough ranting, there are my thoughts on the subject. I must say I hope for responses to continue this cuz it was fun.
Peace, ya'll.
~Abunai
![smile](https://dz3ixmv6nok8z.cloudfront.net/static/img/emoticons/smile.0d0a8d99a741.gif)
~Abunai
conformity, to me, is a matter of social acceptance - people just go along to get along. it is cheap soul-sucking comfort though - and comes at the expense of everything I hold dear: improvisation, creativity, violence (in thinking) and individuality
one of my favorite thinkers is Ralph Waldo Emerson - here is a passage from one of his brilliant essays
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great wo/men have always done so and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their trust that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.
"Self-Reliance"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson-
I hear you, confomrity is soulless, spiritless and never worth the bennefits. And poeple wonder why I refuse to "play it straight". Im not going to "play it" anything, Im going to be me. No matter what I may loose for it, it will never be equal to losing my soul. Btw, I *love* that Emerson essay. It was one of the first philosophical essays I ever read, back in AP English. Self reliance is not only strength to not conform, but realizing that iron string: some universal truth that we are aware of deep down in our hearts, even if we cant put our fingers on it. Its as if quantum entanglement links us all, thru this one tie. Every search for truth must look inward as well as out.
Thanks for ur thots on the subject. One last question, however: "violence (in thinking)"? I think of statements lashing out at society, trying to draw attention to societies wrong, to change minds... like those truth anit-smoking comercials, I love them. I think of outsider type anger, like when my parents moved out of the city and when I came to visit they told me I had to play it straight in front of the neighbors. In response I wrote "DYKE" in big red letters on a t-shirt and took a stroll around the block. I dont know if it changed any minds, but I did have a good laugh about it. Shock value as intellectual violence, if we can't change minds at least we can laugh at those who treat us badly, yet secretly we hope that knowledge is contagious and that if we keep making fools of people like bush we will affect change, slowly but surely. We hope the shock will wear off and people will stop caring about how we chose to live our lives. Is this what u mean by violence in thinking? If not, please explain, I am intrigued.