Conformity

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From 2009......and oldie but a goldie of a response haha.

Laughed out loud 'cause too familiar. Thanks -!

A nice quote. The quote is not 100% true for me, because i dont laugh to groups with my face, i laugh only inside my skull.

most folks aren't even worth mustering the energy to laugh at.

Well im generally a rule follower but I break certain social rules if I dont agree with them.

rules were made to be broken. i could not conform if you paid me. i am reminded of an alan funt [comedic social scientist of yore] stunt where he had "plants" [actors] in an elevator who at a prearranged time, would all move to one side of the elevator with no explanation, and the hidden cameras invariably recorded innocent bystanders in the elevator [not part of the plan] who would promptly move over to the other side of the elevator along with the plants. i suspect i would stubbornly have remained on the same side and gotten killed off by something going wrong in that part of the elevator. darwin award is getting to take off early to HEAVEN.

As far as i'm concerned, there are certainly rules that need to be broken, not every rule. I will not break the rule/law that you cannot kill another human being. I cannot say with 100% certainty whether i will never break this rule at all. In very extreme situations when one's own life is at stake, a person will do things that a person would not do in "normal/quiet" circumstances. I've never stolen anything in a supermarket, i have money to pay for things in a supermarket, but suppose i had no money and almost died of starvation i'm not so sure if i'll continue to conform not to steal as the law dictates. All things considered, i have no control over that at all, purely for the reason that i have no free will.

"Rules are made to be broken" is best understood not as licence for rebellion, but as recognition of the imperfection of rules. Sometimes, we can only follow the spirit of the law by breaking the letter of it.

I usually take it seriously when an entire group is doing something I can't immediately see the point of. I'm not saying I'll necessarily do it, just that I'll consider it. The crowd is fallible for sure, but so am I.
Reminds me of a quote by Tom Baker, from Blackadder, about the wisdom of trying to circumnavigate the world in a small boat:
"Opinion is divided on the matter: I say you can, everybody else says you can't."

^^ My own recovery from abuse was delayed for decades because everyone was assuming that there was no genetic influence on my mental health. I wasted decades of effort trying to work under the assumption that there was no genetic influence on gender characteristics that were not visible. As with Autism, the genetic influence can never be eliminated, although there is currently enormous motivation to take any option that produces fewer children to burden the planet.

Has non conformity ever gotten you in trouble?

Both conformity and non-conformity have gotten me in trouble. The non-conformity brought me more success and happiness, though.

in the army, non-conformity can get a GI into a sheetload of trouble PDQ.

That kind of trouble can be far healthier than conformity and active duty for a soldier.

article 15s are not my idea of "healthy." extra-duty [on top of the already plenty exhausting 12+ hour duty day] as well as having my meager pay docked is not my idea of "healthy." a court-martial is not my idea of "healthy." being confined in the stockade/CCF is not my idea of "healthy." chaptered out with less-than-honorable discharge is not my idea of "healthy."