Is the mantra of our modern age. It's worth noting that true non-conformity has never been vogue. True non-conformists will always be outcasts. It happens. Societies have that which is acceptable, and that which is not. Nonetheless, during the counter-culture revolution of the 1960s, the flower children of that age managed to systematize non-conformity in a way never really seen. Presenting themselves as freethinking rebels with a cause, there are probably few cases of more like-thinking conformity in history than the entire 60s hippy movement. I mean, you could see a free thinking flower child hippy rebel ten miles away because they all looked and acted the same.
Since then, and with help from the good people at Madisen Avenue, non-conformity has become big business. There's money to be made in convincing people that the best way to be a non-conformist is to get in line and do what all the other non-conformists are doing.
I thought of this when I saw a story about some local police department changing its policy where tattoos are concerned. I mean, how much of a rebel are you when the symbol of the oppressive machine is on your side? More to the point, when the symbol of the oppressive machine is groveling at your feet and willing to change policy in the desperate hope that you apply for a job! Perhaps that's why so many celebrities and rock stars grovel before the State Machine today instead of boldly rebelling against it - if they ever really did rebel against it.
I have to say, based on the evidence around us, I'd call my sons about the most rebellious non-conformists I know. And generally it was with little prompting from us parents. In most cases they were free to pursue their appearances and interests as they saw fit. Long hair I would tolerate, though I wouldn't recommend it. That's a battle I wasn't going to fight. But I drew the line at piercing and tattoos. Anything that could cause an infection would not be allowed as long as they were on my insurance. They more or less accepted those boundaries, and thus far, none of them have gotten the body art or piercing or goth this or dyed hair that is embraced by about 97% of their free thinking peers. Which makes you wonder just who is the bold non-conforming rebel.
South Park once captured this perfectly.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/oHRWahLcivs
"I'm going to be so non-conformist, I'm not going to conform with you."
"Dang we just got goth served."
This isn't a new observation. A friend of mine and I were walking across OSU campus back in the day and we saw some fellow with colored spiked punk hair. The spikes were about a foot high. He quipped 'nobody feels like that'. He was right. It was more conformity than a platoon in basic training. That came to my mind when I saw that story. Nonconformist individualism packaged and sealed for generations of people who think they're the bold rebels at the machine's bidding.
DeleteOh I have no doubt that all which is now is all as it was. Like the good book says: "nothing new under the sun."
DeleteThough it is fun to think about what the "non-conformists" of the past might have been like.
Yep. Sometimes I think that's what history is, studying a lot of those bona fide non-conformist. Not the made to order type that have defined non-conformity in our age.
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ReplyDeleteTo be a successful nonconformist, you either have to be Peter the Great or Diogenes: either so rich and powerful you can live life without suffering challenges or so poor no one bothers with you. The rest of us conform as necessary, whether from economic or emotional need. Except the martyrs, that is; and they conform to a Higher Authority.
Personally I've never seen the problem with some level of conforming. As you point out, we all do to a point no matter what we say.
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