The problem of conformity

[boo boo]

So, one day while surfing the web for decent bald chick porn (what?) I come across this website (not a porn site) called FACE WORLD - FACE OFF

It's an environmentalist site in which all members male and female protest the use of hair products that are harmful to the environment by shaving their heads and vowing to keep it that way for the rest of their lives.

Now personally, any political movement that gets more gals to shave their heads is alright with me. Hair really isn't a big deal among men, lots of guys shave their heads. But for women, I certainly find it efreshing when women are confident enough not to rely on their hair to feel attractive.

However I find this particular movement to be contradictory and dishonest. First and foremost, there's other alternatives to using harmful hair products than headshaving. And there are other things just as harmful. Like body wash and tooth paste, I certainly hope people aren't against those things too.

However for these people it's also a statement of opposition to the vanity of hair as a symbol of beauty. Fair enough. But I've seen these people argue on Youtube and a lot of them are assh*les who call people sheep for not subscribing to their fashion sense, as in "anyone who doesnt shave their heads is doing it for selfish reasons".

Give me a break. A lot of them even argue that it's not about non conformity, and that non comformity is a bad thing that the media promotes to control people and that it should be about unity.

Yeah, it's all about that new age spiritual crap. These people also seem to be very misanthropic in general.

But anyway, they argue about how hair is a symbol of the ego and that everyone who invests in taking care of their hair have an ego problem.

Now wait a minute, if you're shaving your hair just to make a statement, then you too care about image and wouldn't it be dishonest to not admit that you yourself have an ego to satisfy?

And thus we have the main problem of conformity. Every revolutionary art movement, every revolutionary musical movement, every revolutionary fashion movement, they have always been based around the idea of nonconformity. But once these lead to new subcultures, they themselves become a system of conformity.

What happens when everyone shaves their heads? Then shiney scalps would become the new status symbol, women with the smoothest scalps with a minimum of scars, cuts and pimples would be most desirable.

Lets not forget that once upon a time, long hair was a symbol of nonconformity, and that short hair was looked upon as conformity, headshaving is used by the millitary as a symbol of uniformity and blind allegiance, and it's also associated with skinheads.

It's a never ending cycle, the acts of unconformity today are the acts of conformity tomorrow. That's just the way it has always been since society has been around.

Is there a solution? F*ck no.

Other than my solution, and that's just not giving a sh*t weither people think you're a conformist or not.

It's one of the greatest contradictions of the human race, all men are created equal, only they're not. We have the conflict of being alike but not being that much alike. The idea of conformity vs anti conformity is so black and white, it just isn't that simple.

The truth is, things are neither inherently conformist or anti-conformist, they just are.

So, to quote one of my favorite Rush songs. "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice". Corniest lyrics ever? Sure, but it's kinda true. Even if you choose to be a "conformist", that's still your choice. Pressuring people NOT to conform is itself a demand for conformity.

Every person is unique even when they imitate each other, why can't people understand that? People make a big deal about how the media controls us, but if you do things just to spite the media or challenge it, you're still being influenced by it are you not?

It's just basic human nature to imitate things we think are cool, personally, I see nothing wrong with that. I just wish more people were intellectually honest and accept that people are gonna do what they want to do and not pretend that they have all the right answers.

[bubu]

All men are created equal doesn't refer to this. The difference in age, height, weight, hair color and attitude has nothing to do with the quote.

It's really about the fact that every man can make any choice he wants and he is free to try to accomplish anything he can think of.

Misinterpretation is the basis of religion. And after you institute a certain belief system into a person's head you can make every other opinion look bad just because it contradicts the higher authority figure that you created.

This is what manipulation is really about. We shouldn't care about what the media does, because ultimately it can alter none of our decisions, so it is irrelevant.

Any group that has hairy ideas is worthy of our ignorance and nothing else because they are trying to fight their best ally, the world.

[boo boo]

Originally Posted by bubu

All men are created equal doesn't refer to this. The difference in age, height, weight, hair color and attitude has nothing to do with the quote.

It's really about the fact that every man can make any choice he wants and he is free to try to accomplish anything he can think of.

Misinterpretation is the basis of religion. And after you institute a certain belief system into a person's head you can make every other opinion look bad just because it contradicts the higher authority figure that you created.

This is what manipulation is really about. We shouldn't care about what the media does, because ultimately it can alter none of our decisions, so it is irrelevant.

Any group that has hairy ideas is worthy of our ignorance and nothing else because they are trying to fight their best ally, the world.

I agree with the first part but not so much the second, the media certainly influences our opinions, but so does... EVERYTHING.

The media really is the great scapegoat these days.

[TheBig3]

Originally Posted by boo boo

I agree with the first part but not so much the second, the media certainly influences our opinions, but so does... EVERYTHING.

The media really is the great scapegoat these days.

media how? Do books count? Media = medium = conduit = no personal characteristics.

I don't know if we can blame the media. That's like blaming roadways and tunnels for car accidents.

[boo boo]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

media how? Do books count? Media = medium = conduit = no personal characteristics.

I don't know if we can blame the media. That's like blaming roadways and tunnels for car accidents.

I meant mainstream media, television, magazines, fashion, advertizing, consumer culture.

Obviously these things have some serious faults and negative influences that are worth discussion. But I'm tired of people thinking they're the cause of all the world's problems.

[Captain Awesome]

Originally Posted by boo boo

Obviously these things have some serious faults and negative influences that are worth discussion. But I'm tired of people thinking they're the cause of all the world's problems.

I wouldn't say they are the "cause" of all the worlds problems. But they certainly caused a few and influenced/pushed people towards a lot of other problems.

The real cause is our society being so ****ing stupid that we believe everything we hear/see/read in the news etc because for some reason we have this retarded belief that they can't lie.

[Freebase Dali]

Everyone conforms to something. Clothes, hair, food... not to mention ideals, political stances, morals... It's necessary to subscribe to something, unless we're deluded enough to think we're a product of our own making individually.
I personally don't think general conformity is a bad thing at all. The issue really lies with what we're conforming to and whether it's a negative force in our lives or not.
The challenge is caring enough to use insight and experience to analyze these things we adopt so we can make the right decisions for ourselves.

In context with a bunch of women shaving their heads to save the environment, I think that's a little misguided as to the effectiveness that will ever have... but it's obviously more of a statement and less of a "solution", which probably the wrong way to go about things.

[CAPTAIN CAVEMAN]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Everyone conforms to something.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

Do you normally take things out of context just to be an ass, or because you literally can't understand the entire post?

[CAPTAIN CAVEMAN]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Do you normally take things out of context just to be an ass, or because you literally can't understand the entire post?

well its not like it was hard to understand so i'm gonna have to say the former