Are we bullied into acting the way we do?

[Svenparty]

Earlier I was thinking of us meatbags and how there is certainly less and less true originality or eccentricity being encouraged in these modern times. Most people dress the same, have similiar opinions and I'm starting to think it stems from early pressure in school to act a certain way.

Regularly I am told to "Act Normal" and it's very sad to me that as we advance technologically etc we are leaving individuality to the dust. People are too cowardly not only aesthetically but morally and ethically to free themselves from a mass tyranny of the senses.

 

[Kermi]

Since there's no evidence for what you're claiming, it's hard to argue your point either way. You're asking us to discuss an issue you feel exists, based entirely on a conclusion you've decided to draw, presumably from making some kind of observation.

My question is, what makes you think your conclusion is accurate?

 

[FreakSheet]

Usually we are bullied into doing something, because we do not know how to act morally yet, since we don't know what morals are. If we were moral, we wouldn't need a standing army (Police) and laws to keep people in line and tell them what to do. People are too Sophistic right now, and will try to game the system and others for personal game, no matter the cost to others. If we didn't have Police or laws, well, the Joker said it best: "When the chips are down, these civilized people? They'll eat each other."

 

[legion431]

Yeah, I feel that to. People are afraid to express their opinions in fear of looking stupid, or different.

 

[plugav]

Have eccentricity and originality ever been encouraged? A society without norms is no society at all. Not to say I'm conservative or support the persecution of perceived "freaks" - quite the contrary. However, the binary opposition of eccentric/good vs. normal/bad is false.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

i'm pretty sure i'm eccentric but thats only because i'm told so and i tend to not believe them and think they are eccentric.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Have eccentricity and originality ever been encouraged? A society without norms is no society at all. Not to say I'm conservative or support the persecution of perceived "freaks" - quite the contrary. However, the binary opposition of eccentric/good vs. normal/bad is false.

I'd agree with this.

Society has always encouraged certain types of behaviour.

I don't know how common it was for people to take issue with this, or for them to all rebel the same way cause the cool kids are doing it, though.

On the other hand, doing a thing jsut because everyone else thinks it's better to do it another way is a tad dubious as well. Some things are the way they are for good reasons. They should be examined, of course, but not rejected for the hell of it.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

My question is, what makes you think your conclusion is accurate?

I guess he is probably still a student at secondary/high school. As somebody in the same position, I think I can answer for him on this one.

The school system is incredibly biased. There are many different kinds of intelligence, people are intelligent and express their intelligence in different ways. School is massively biased towards exactly one type of intelligence, and if you do not possess that type of intelligence, you get called stupid. Not just once, but every school day, from the day you begin, to the day that he hellish experience ends.

To be more specific, school favours maths based people. If you are good at connecting dots and thinking logically in a linear, organised fashion, you will almost certainly ace every subject. If you are a creative thinker, a practical thinker or even a philosophical, critical thinker, there are almost no subjects in school that are tailored for you. Even subjects like English and Music still favour these types of mindsets. Yes, music (at GCSE level at least) is biased in favour of mathmatical types and rarely rewards creative types. I wish I was joking.

What this leads to is people 1) feeling miserable for the entirety of their schooling experience, 2) spending their entire lives thinking that they are stupid and inferior because school told them they were right from a young age, and all through their development and 3) creativity and open ended thinking are discouraged. This eventually leads to two types of people in society. Those that are called "smart" because they are the minority that benefit from this dumb intelligence hierarchy, and "everybody else" who get lumped into being some faceless mass of generic people, that never act on their talents because they have been told they don't have any.

TL;DR - We are bullied into acting the way we do because we are told from an extremely young age to conform to a specific way of thinking. Creativity is crushed, individuallity is crushed, and anybody that goes against these rules gets branded as an idiot and has to spend the rest of their life with worse living conditions and less luxuries than everybody else because they weren't born with the type of mind that society deems to be "right".

 

[lobster1077]

Yep, its what we call social societal pressure, the ever changing unwritten tenants of social conduct. If you walk around with no pants on its deemed a bit odd because people have been conditioned in their upbringing and from social exposure to believe that pants are requisite in a public place.

 

[Levethian]

Yep, its what we call social societal pressure, the ever changing unwritten tenants of social conduct.

Tenets?

Since there's no evidence for what you're claiming, it's hard to argue your point either way.

No evidence for societies demands to conform? Is this the case in Australia?

Since childhood I've been directed towards doing something 'respectable', preferably while wearing a suit. Anything less will diminish my worth in the face of my parents and some of my friends.

At least that's my perception - they haven't said as much.

 

[lobster1077]

Yep, its what we call social societal pressure, the ever changing unwritten tenants of social conduct.

Oh dear, right you are sir.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Of course we are. That's how society works. We are just animals who act a certain way because we don't want to be shunned by our group.

Look at any thread about vegetarianism on this site. They're full of mockery, derision and insults directed at vegetarians. I didn't stop eating meat until the beginning of this year because I didn't want to be the only vegetarian I knew. If I so much as brought it up I would get laughed at and insulted. Why are people so offended by the idea that others don't want to actively and deliberately promote the slaughter sentient creatures? I can only imagine they feel threatened by it in some way.

Anyway, people are fucked, and they'll push you into comforming with their own choices and expectations, even if there's no practical purpose or valid reasoning behind them. It makes their own beliefs seem justified. It happens with religion, it happens with politics and it happens with lifestyle. Welcome to the world.

 

[SilentCom]

I'm pretty sure people dress differently depending on the region and culture they are living in. There are also people who try to dress differently within their own cultures. The reason why the majority of people within their own culture dress similarly is because they want to feel like they fit in. This is natural, not unoriginal. I mean why do you think uniforms (all manner) were invented. Just because tyranny existed before and in certain circumstances today doesn't mean you have to apply it to everything.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

It's always been the case, just not only through school. People want their children to have a 'happy' life and a good job, i.e. one that pays (maybe even pays well!) and doesn't make any trouble. There are also numerous rules of conduct that are made for such 'normal' people

Problem is, happiness is subjective (as is normalcy), so the only way to find it is to not be 'normal' or conform to all the rules. Find what you like, think for yourself. Too many people don't and just pretend to be happy with their 9-5 jobs while they're in fact miserable.

 

[thisbymaster]

I fail to see why originality or eccentricity is important at all. The nail that sticks up gets pounded down. Original or unique is just another word for useless. If you created a unique computer, it would be worthless because it wouldn't work with the other computers around the world. If you created a unique language, no one else would be able to understand it. Things are similar for a reason, so people can process it. We act together and imitate each other so we work together. Those who fail to follow the rules are looked down on because they are not adding to society. It is for your own good that you get a job with a suit so you can make money, eat, have kids and continue society. See [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract[/link]

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Earlier I was thinking of us meatbags and how there is certainly less and less true originality or eccentricity being encouraged in these modern times. Most people dress the same, have similiar opinions and I'm starting to think it stems from early pressure in school to act a certain way.

Regularly I am told to "Act Normal" and it's very sad to me that as we advance technologically etc we are leaving individuality to the dust. People are too cowardly not only aesthetically but morally and ethically to free themselves from a mass tyranny of the senses.

What? I mean, the fact that different people get ground down and persecuted is true, but I don't know where you're pulling this "modern times" crap from. With the internet and an unparalleled (even if it's still got a long way to go) level of racial, gender and sexual equality, things have never been better for freaks and outsiders. God knows if I'd been born in the fifties I'd probably have ended up pioneering the school shooting half a century early.

People are sheep, and getting off at the expense of people outside the tribe is the most innately human attribute - that's why so many cultures that don't have any real need or incentive to look down on people who disagree do so anyway.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I fail to see why originality or eccentricity is important at all. The nail that sticks up gets pounded down. Original or unique is just another word for useless.

This is asuming that everything has to have a practical purpose to justify it's existence. Eccentricity has no practical purpose, but it greatly improves the world and makes life a significantly more interesing thing for the majority of it's people. the same goes for art, music, literature and any other creative pursuit you care to mention.

Those who fail to follow the rules are looked down on because they are not adding to society

Artistic creativity and originality greatly add to society, because they change the lives of an untold number of people. Just because you do not value something, that does not make it worthless.

 

[mrblakemiller]

Earlier I was thinking of us meatbags and how there is certainly less and less true originality or eccentricity being encouraged in these modern times. Most people dress the same, have similiar opinions and I'm starting to think it stems from early pressure in school to act a certain way.

Regularly I am told to "Act Normal" and it's very sad to me that as we advance technologically etc we are leaving individuality to the dust. People are too cowardly not only aesthetically but morally and ethically to free themselves from a mass tyranny of the senses.

You seem like you would be interested to read this.

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-women-arent-crazy/

Personally, I think that even if people do try to get me to do what they want me to, I'm still doing it of my own free will since I believe that it's often to my benefit to do what other people want me to do. Gets me on their good side, so I can ask similarly of them.

 

[Comando96]

I have been told to act normally before, or question why I am like I am and I just go:

"oh feck off" really loudly.
"I can be whatever I want to be, fuck normal"
It tends to get them to back off.

Normally if you begin to insult others via the sentiment that lacking of individuality is linked to the lacking of self will or intelligence then... they'll fuck off >.>

----------------------------------

Of course society shifts us towards its particular norms, for example the culture of those in Japan is different to those in the USA, which is different to those in the middle east, which are different to those in Africa (south) which are different to those in Russia... well Russia has numerous differences within itself >.>

However within that you don't need to conform too closely too what society says (unless punishable by death >.>) and can tend to get away with it with only a few stares.

 

[Something Amyss]

I feel the need to post this song:


Society really does seem to bully people into conforming.