Conform Or Die

  We are born to conform.

  Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals that guide their interactions with others. This tendency to conform occurs in small groups and/or society as a whole, and may result from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure. Conformity can occur in the presence of others, or when an individual is alone.

  People often conform from a desire for security within a group; typically a group of a similar age, culture, religion, or educational status. This is often referred to as groupthink: a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics, which ignores realistic appraisal of other courses of action. Unwillingness to conform carries the risk of social rejection.

  Although peer pressure may manifest negatively, conformity can be regarded as either good or bad. Driving on the correct side of the road could be seen as beneficial conformity. With the right environmental influence, conforming, in early childhood years, allows one to learn and thus, adopt the appropriate behaviors necessary to interact and develop correctly within one’s society. Conformity influences formation and maintenance of social norms, and helps societies function smoothly and predictably via the self-elimination of behaviors seen as contrary to unwritten rules. In this sense it can be perceived as a positive force that prevents acts that are perceptually disruptive or dangerous.

  As conformity is a group phenomenon, factors such as group size, unanimity, cohesion, status, prior commitment and public opinion help determine the level of conformity an individual displays.

  I live in a rather conservative town. I was brought up in the middle-class neighborhood and was taught to follow the rules. My schooling taught me how to be orderly in class, stand to pledge allegiance without taking the oath, pray before eating, stand in line arranged by the alphabet, speak only when spoken to, wear pajamas, wear the same clothing as everyone else, go to church on Sunday and be taught faith and conform. The same lessons my brother learned were passed down to me like cloning education.

  Those who did not follow the pattern were ostracized and called names and disciplined. They became the rebels, the free spirits, the poets and the beatniks who would later be idolized by the conformist as false prophets. Those would not conform were shunned and labeled as misfits.

  The other side of breaking out of the mold is the ‘freedom of thought’. Idealist, creative’s, visionaries and those who think out-of-the-box of conformity enlighten the fringes.

  Was Jesus a conformist? Are his followers? What would we listen to if music were all the same? What about artwork? Every museum would look like every other museum. Every play and television show and dance is the same because someone had not come up with something different. How dull would that be?

  Your green hair will wash out and turn grey but the tattoos will be with your for life. Symbols of non-conformity will come and go, like the fashion of the absurd, but the value of thinking, contemplating, imaging is far beyond daydreams.

  Be an original. Sign your name to it. Be one-of-a-kind and then go back to watching the media wasteland of copy and repeat.

  And listen to your children. They haven’t been taught not to think...yet.