Conformity

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It depends on what is meant by conformity.

I subscribe to the capitalist system because it suits me so I would not consider myself a non-conformist in that sense.

On the other hand, I am Irish and the Irish are rebels, it's in their blood. You can't deny 800 years of race memory. When this rebelliousness, or non-conformity, comes out in music and art it can lead to great results - U2, Sex Pistols, Morrissey, and many more. When it comes out in politics it can lead to misguided campaigns such as the IRA's 30 year war in Northern Ireland.
 
I have been known to not "conform" to being a proper U2 fan, as I listen to many inappropriate bands that other U2 fans do not listen to.

~U2Alabama
 
Conformity is the shaping of every opinion, action, your appearance, etc to the "norm" of a group.

Is it good? No.

There are certain laws and standards everyone needs to follow in order to remain in society, but conformity is the trying to "fit" into society, or the group, etc.
 
I follow what I believe to be true. If some of these beliefs happen to fall under "conformity," then so be it; and if they don't, so be it as well.

I stopped caring what people thought after I graduated from HS.

Melon
 
Conformity can be necessary at times. How sluggish would our military be without conformity?
 
Macfistowannabe said:
Conformity can be necessary at times. How sluggish would our military be without conformity?

I know many in the military that would be very upset with this comment.

The military has standards, procedures, strict codes, and uniforms but it doesn't make them conformists. They don't serve their country in order to fit in.
 
Main Entry: conformity1
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: compliance
Synonyms: acquiescence, allegiance, assent, consent, conventionality, docility, obedience, observance, orthodoxy, resignation, submission, willingness
Antonyms: disobedience, noncompliance, nonconformance, nonconformity, rebellion

The way I see it, if you're a non-conformist, you're still a conformist. You're conforming to non-conformity.
 
Conformity doesn't mean losing your individuality, rather, obedience is more accurate.
 
Do Miss America said:

That's exactly what it means. If you conform to someone else's thinking, appearance, etc then you aren't being yourself. That's something completely different.
Explain.
 
Do Miss America said:


How do you conform to not having any cohesive principals?
It's not conforming to society, but to conforming to a rebellion.

Is a rebel, who is in a subculture of rebels, a conformist or non-conformist?

"The Non-Conformist Conscience makes cowards of us all."
- Max Beerbohm

"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist." - Ayn Rand

"We are half ruined by conformity, but we should be wholly ruined without it." - Charles Dudley Warner
 
Macfistowannabe said:

I thought it was obvious.

If you conform to thinking the way this group thinks, acts, dresses, talks, etc then are you being yourself? No you are being them. You are letting them define who you are and not you.

Now if you are part of that group because you already think, dress, talk etc like them and that's truly who you are then you are just hanging out with people of similar taste etc. That's not conformity.

Don't get me wrong there are conformists in every walk of life, even those that call themselves non-conformists. But what it comes down to is who's truly defining you? You or the group, or society, or the church, or whatever.

To blindly allow others to define you is conformity and that's one of the most damnable and unhealthy things an individual can do.
 
U2Bama said:
I have been known to not "conform" to being a proper U2 fan, as I listen to many inappropriate bands that other U2 fans do not listen to.

~U2Alabama

Well those that tell you, you aren't a proper fan are full of shit. You listen to whatever you want.
 
Everybody conforms, even when they try not to conform. All you can ever do is conform in the way that you like too.
 
Do Miss America said:


But does it make it right? Society is built on a lot of things I don't agree with.

Definitely not, or not always at least.
In society I think many people choose conformity without even realising. We live in a supposedly enlightened era, but every day we see people who either cannot or choose not to conform, and are condemned, shunned, vilified or even killed for what they choose to be or happen to be.
It is because of preordained mores that freedom of expression is so unaccepted. Anyone who doesn't fit the bill is deemed a threat to the safety and strength of what is nice and comfortable, of what is declared to 'work'. We find ourselves facing trouble when we come to realise that the narrow mold we are expected to fill just simply does not fit everyone.

BVS asked what we think conformity is. I think society has a model which is pretty much a set of guidelines. You educate yourself, you work, you dress well, speak well, look after yourself and your health, you actively participate in society, you drift toward the goal of family, you own a house or at least live in one, you follow the law, you pick up hobbies to enrich your life and expand your mind. Now, all that sounds great, fine. But most people won't fit into all of that and some wont fit into any of it. Conforming is incrimentally striving toward that. Not questioning why we are mindlessly heading in this direction. Whatever aspect of that mold we dont fit into, we spend a lot of time and energy trying hard to make fit. The people who can't make that work are viewed as failures, and those who snub it to go their own way are viewed as any number of negatively connoted labels in a bid to place them in their own box. Nice and neat.
In the end, conformity is only a good thing if that is truly what you want in life. It's major and glaring handicap is it prevents acceptance and promotes division.
 
conformity is indeed an attack on your personality. you can't be what you want to be in this society simply because of certain laws that this planet enforces on social outcasts. screw conformity.
 
Seriously

Any group, organization, corporation, society, etc., needs some level of conformity to operate efficiently.

Does this mean thinking and being identical in all ways? No.
 
U2Bama said:
I have been known to not "conform" to being a proper U2 fan, as I listen to many inappropriate bands that other U2 fans do not listen to.

~U2Alabama

I'm in all sorts of trouble over this. How many U2 fans are also klezmer fans?
 
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