As mentioned many times before, the people that I keep seeing around me keep ``growing up'' and seemingly be ``absorbed'' into the social culture and norms. Each time I look at some random news on Facebook, I find that this idea keeps reoccurring. The strange thing is, the more I look at these folks, the more I think to myself that I should not end up like them. And then I slowly realise that I am still a walking contradiction---a misanthrope who is mildly philanthropic.
So what I have not really talked about in too much detail is why I keep saying that I should not be absorbed into the social culture. Well, actually, I did talk a little about it, in the sense that I am not a sheeple. But actually, there is more to this than avoidance of being a sheeple---the cost of living as a ``grown up'' member of society who follows the social trends is much higher than that of living as a geek.
It sounds paradoxical, I agree; after all, isn't it the geeks who end up buying all those new-fangled toys just to show off how cool they are? Except that it is probably not that true. Comparatively speaking, it is the average consumer that ends up buying more tools and gadgets like that in order to ``fit in'' and to one-up their peers---remember that they are the ``normal'' people and thus have some reputation of fitting in to keep up with. Ever wondered who bought those i<BLARG> devices that Apple keeps putting up? It is most definitely not all the geeks; in fact, it can be plainly seen that the people who are actually the most drawn to the devices are your everyday consumer! Very intriguing, because the i<BLARG> is a status symbol to many people. Think about it this way. Walk down the streets some day and just take a look around. You will find that many teenagers are using i<BLARG>. You look at them and you wonder, why the heck do they need an i<BLARG> when they have no real need to surf the Internet while at the mall and such? Think also about the PSP. The PSP is a decent device with relatively good graphics and all, and when you see it being used, it is often people who are dressed in nice collared shirts and dress pants playing on them in the subway. `Why do they do that?' you might wonder. Well, I go back to the original argument I just made---they are just looking for status symbols to fit in to the overall social construct.
I hate to conform for no good reason. Give me a good reason why I should behave in a certain way, and I will be a loyal follower to the end. But if you cannot give me any compelling reasons why I should act the way you prescribe, then sod off---I am not interested in blindly following the ways that you are talking about. Does this sound very misanthropic? In a way, yes, because I am not willing to subject myself to following trends just because they are trends. Society will not progress much if everyone is a follower, and no one sits upright and asks why something is so. I am not going to claim that I will indeed be a leader of society, but at the very least, I think that I am entitled to being able to think for myself, with little consequence as to whether I ``conform'' or not. Let's face it, if I were a conformist, I would not be talking about things here anyway, since most of my writing here has a tendency to lash out at being blind conformists.
So, if you are a person, and you are reading this, then take my advice: be yourself and not let society dictate how you ought to behave---laws are there to provide guidelines for people to understand what is acceptable, but they are no means the only ways of living; it is possible to live a fulfilling life while still following the law. Don't follow trends unless you can convince yourself that they are indeed necessary and useful for yourself.
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