Poll: CONFORMISTS!!!!

[ldbmikey86]

This video pretty much sums it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGRIamCE5JU&playnext=1&list=PL1118D2A72CACF063&index=2

Thanks Eugene Mirman, you crazy bastid.

 

[ldbmikey86]

bleh. double post.

 

[VelvetHorror]

The following explains why conformity isn't a bad thing, and it also goes into how our ancestors have GREATLY influenced who we are and how predictable we can be.

Spoiler: Explanation

Caveman A learns how to cut hair.

Tribe then cuts hair short.

Caveman B doesn't want his hair cut, so he keeps his long hair. He becomes noticeably different and alien compared to other members of the tribe. He becomes alienated from the tribe and women of the tribe ignore him because he's viewed as inferior to everyone else. Caveman B dies without producing offspring.

So in short, people want to fit in to the crowd. Wear the same clothes, partake in the same pasttimes, root for the same team, etc. We want to be accepted by our peers because in the past, not being accepted by your peers resulted in you not making babies. Think about it. There was a time when brightly colored short shorts and rollerblading were popular. If you are a girl and see a guy with short shorts and rollerblades nowadays, I doubt you're going to think "Hey, that guy's hip and cool."

But at the same time, there's also a reason why not everyone is the same religion, have the same customs, wear the same clothes, or are organized under one government. While we want to fit in, we also want to be able to stand out a bit. If you and 50 other guys are going after the same girl and all wear the same clothes, root for the same team, drink the same kind of soda, and share a lot of other traits, you are going to have about the same chance of mating with the girl as the 50 other guys. You want to stand out just a bit to make yourself a little more interesting and favorable without sticking out too much to the point that you are fundamentally different from everyone else.

For example, if 65% of a community likes rock music, 30% likes country, and 5% like Polka music; the people who like country will be slightly more unique than than a bulk of the community if all other variables are the same. They won't be too unique since there is still a decent percentage of people who share that interest. However the people who like Polka music are in such minority that if all other variables are the same, they will be viewed as weird and not part of the community.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Yes I am everyone is a conformist. Infect people who do not conform are in fact conforming to not conform. (yeah take that brain)

Basicly I conform to what I want to conform to.

 

[phoenix352]

umm i dress and act how i always have .. the way i wanted and sometimes because my mom made my =/ but all in all i see stuff i like in a store and ill wear it .. i dont need to copy other people to dress ...

i dont dress to be popular so i dont care what people think of how i dress.
this fact was discovered by my friends in high school as i never wore whats popular at the time .

 

[LuckyClover95]

When people say conformism it makes me think of pretentious emo bullshit.... Emos say they aren't conforming by all dressing the same. If the guys went out wearing a massive pink dress or a yellow wetsuit or nothing at all, then, THEN they wouldn't be conforming. But by dressing and acting socially acceptable you're conforming, and I see nothing wrong with that. Personally, I like both mainstream and non mainstream/indie music but whether I only liked one or the other I'd still be a conformist because there would be millions of others listening to that music and I would be socially acceptable. Everybody are conformists (grammer?! sorry) but it isn't a bad thing.

 

[Harlemura]

I'm pretty conformist. If something's out of the ordinary, usually I won't do it.
If I wanted "Why are you wearing that?" throughout the day, then I'd dress up in a dinosaur costume. But I'd rather just blend into the crowd and have no questions asked.

 

[Hiikuro]

I am quite nonconformist. I don't try to not conform, I just tend to pick reason and what I like over popularity/culture/norms/etc.

It does make me feel different, rejected, and lonely. And it fuels depression. But it sure is far better than lying to myself, pretending to like something I don't, or do something I feel is wrong.

 

[Angerwing]

Because my looks are important, right? Haha, no. I express myself through my personality and my actions, not my looks. If someone makes a serious character judgement on my appearance (clothes I wear, how I have my hair, etc) then they're extremely shallow. If you think you actually have to wear odd clothes to differentiate yourself, then you're either extremely insecure, or you have a very weak personality.

I wear clothes that make me look good and don't pointlessly make me look like an attention seeking jerk. Whether or not they make me a conformist or not is not something I actually give a fuck about.

 

[Caliostro]

The whole "Anti-conformism" as a principle is the exact same sheepish mentality as conformism. Sure, you don't look like everyone else, but you're still bound by everyone else. "I won't do that because everyone does it!" is just as misguided and a sign of a lacking personality as "I'll do that because everyone's doing it!". Worse, it's also hypocritical, scorning people for their thought process then utilizing an equivalent.

At the end of the day, you're still doing whatever because of the masses, not because of your own head.

Try a nouvelle concept. Do, wear, listen, hear, whatever else is applicable, what you like. What you care about. Regardless of what everyone else likes, dislikes, is doing or not doing. If you like band t-shirts, wear band t-shirts. Even if every single person in the world is using them. If you don't, don't wear them. Even if nobody else in the world uses them. The only way to claim individuality is to use your own damn head.

when something works really well and is adopted by the majority of the population...
an artist calls it cliche
and a biologist calls it evolution

Jersey Shore.
Twilight.
The Transformers movies.
Call of Duty.
The sound of your theory falling apart.

Yes, usually good things are popular, but it's not a certainty, and the inverse certainly does not hold true.

Good tends to be popular, but popular may or may not be good.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I usually wear jeans, a watch, my glasses (I look snazzy in glasses for some reason. It makes me look more intelligent but loveable), a nice looking hoodie without the hood up and the sleeves rolled up. Sometimes the hoodie is unzipped if the T shirt I'm wearing under it looks good with it. I usually also wear some old dog tags. I do believe myself to be an attractive person, but the girls in my family say I have no tastes. They just jelly because they aren't as awesome as me

 

[strobe]

when something works really well and is adopted by the majority of the population...
an artist calls it cliche
and a biologist calls it evolution

I agree. I've been thinking about social evolution a bit recently although my thoughts on it're probably worth little because of my ignorance of the area.

I am my own person. I wear what i want to wear and if you don't like it well fuck you.

Nobody cares what you wear.

 

[The-Bad-Blooded]

half of the people commenting about conformism here don't even know what the word means.

anyway, conformism is happening everywhere! even here, on the Escapist...
a friend of mine loves Zero Punctuation, and he watches loyally.
He came to me about a certain game (who shall remain anonymous, for the game's safety) saying that it was great and that he hadn't played anything as good in a while.
AFTER the Zero punctuation Review, however, his opinion had changed drastically and he pretty much recited the whole negatively-skewed review to me without a thought.
This person is what we call a 'conformist' and I hate conformism, with a passion.

He also hates the Wii, and when I asked him Why, he said:
"I hate it because all of the 'Hardcore Gamers' hate it"
which made me angry because
1) hating on something genuinely good because someone popular doesn't like it is rediculous
2) These 'Hardcore Gamers' he speaks of are genuinely stupid for promoting hate on something
3) in Hating the Wii (because, apparently, the hardcore do) this person somehow feels that they are hardcore (which I laugh in his face whenever he says so)

 

[The-Bad-Blooded]

sorry for the rant ^^^

 

[TimeLord]

I completely refuse to wear denim jeans on the basis that EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE[footnote]The universe pertaining to my home town and nearby large city[/footnote] wears jeans.
Everyone.

Casual day at work? Jeans.
Out to the pub? Jeans.
Day shopping? Jeans.

Die Jeans, die.
Combat trousers and suits FTW!

Conformity is a lie anyway. Everyone is different.

EXCEPT THOSE WHO WEAR JEANS!

 

[joshuaayt]

I said not really, because I'm not going to lie and say I live my life free of conformity- hell, I haven't murdered anyone yet, just like most people I know.

But I'm not going to go out of my way to fit in. I know who I am, and I have accepted that I have to put up with that hilarious, handsome, erudite, intruiging, logical, charming, popular with all the ladies, devil. It's my curse, but I wear it- wear your own, because I sure as hell can't fit it on me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Everyone is atleast somewhat conformist, it's impossible not to be unless you live on the moon or something.