Humans have this thing with conformity. Whether you have made ityour dance partner or you're one of those rebellious kids wearingthe punk uniform we see standing insolently and brooding atall-ages shows, conformity is why you bother. You embody it, or youwrite terrible poetry condemning it. You hate Abercrombie &Fitch solely on principle, or you subscribe to its quarterlymagazine.
But on whichever fashion, musical or behavioral fence post youlean, it's certain to be nearly collapsing from the weight of theinnumerable others who are propped against the same one.
We are all conformists. It's either obvious or subtle, but thegroup who goes with the flow is inversely related to the group whogoes against it. Everyone is swimming in the mainstream, so thedifference is whether we're floating with the current or paddlingferociously against it. But either way, "the flow" is the commondenominator.
So then, "being yourself" is not reserved only for hipsters andpunks, especially when the beloved ethics of their attitudes arehomogenized and summarized in this tightly packaged clich�:"think for yourself." With that in mind, perhaps we are allpunks.
If Lisa, a 21-year-old elementary-education major, believes thatshe looks hot in her new Hollister top and wears it to a fraternityparty even when her roommates think differently, she has made arebellious decision. Similarly, if Tim, the rhythm guitarist andsinger for a local band, thinks black shirts are sorrowful and torndenim jackets reveal his damaged temperament, who could say he'swrong?
Lisa will not admit that she looked like the other girls at theparty. But she did, because that (and every) subculture influencesthose involved in it.
And when Tim sings, "I'm a nonconformist," one needs only tolook at his use of the indefinite article "a" to determine that heis misleading us too. Tim would be a nonspecific nonconformist. Heis not "the nonconformist"; rather, he is one of many who tend toscoff at the perceived mainstream. This means his cohort groupconsists of many like him who conform to not conforming. And Lisa'sconsists of many like her who conform without knowing they'reconforming.�
But "nurture," as a psychological concept, helps to explainTim's and Lisa's social conditioning and behavioral modeling, andthese phenomena are translated to, and revealed in, theirappearances and interests. Our individual circumstances dodetermine "who we are." "Who we are" is new and unique; "what weare doing" has been done before. No one is fooling anyone;nevertheless, we have agreed to allow the pretension tocontinue.
Mark Andersen is a nonspecific nonconformist too. He is aco-author of "Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation'sCapital." In an interview with Julianne Shepherd from the PortlandMercury, he said, "It's good not to broadly apply one's standardsto others ... Somehow we have to try to have tolerance and keep thefocus on ourselves. It's just too easy to tell others what theyshould be doing."
Closing argument (and fact): No one is that different.Conformity is inescapable; humans have survived this long becausewe've built on the ideas of the past. Once you figure that out, youcan stop kidding yourself.
Write to Allyn at aswest@bsu.edu
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