Triceratops!
When I was in middle school and the Power Rangers came out, I was faced with a moral dilemma. My favorite color was red, but the blue Power Ranger had a triceratops robot, and the triceratops has always been my favorite dinosaur. Also, the red Power Ranger was the leader, and I just always had a thing against flavoring the lead and most popular. I weighed my options and opted to have my favorite Power Ranger be Billy.
On the playground, people chose their favorite Power Ranger by their favorite color. It was the obvious, superficial choice, and I decided to go with the flow. It wasn’t a big deal to make the switch, but it is worth noting that to this day, my favorite color is blue.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, according to an article written by 3 fancy pants psychologists in 1990, Hogg, Turner, and Davidson, (and many other articles) this is an example of a pattern seen throughout time in which people conform to a group which is becoming most popular or is most popular. People like to be in with the in crowd, and often times to be part of that crowd they will alter their own perceptions or opinions to match that group.
Obey.
Obviously, people want to fit in. Even if you’re a punk rock, fuck the world, anti-conformist, you’ve conformed. Do you think every punk rock anti-conformist was born a punk rock anti-conformist? No way they were. What happened was they have a few things in common with the punk rock crowd, they got together with them, listened to some cool music, dissected the lyrics, and rewrote their own philosophies accordingly.
And I’m not here to call one group of people hypocrites. At least, not without calling everyone a bunch of hypocrites, too. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what makes you “you” and where that stuff came from. Many of us are familiar with the onion theory in which we are all like onions, with layers and layers of what makes us unique. But what about you haven’t you learned from someone else, someone with their own biases? Even your most intimate and unique qualities are just mutations of ideas and gestures picked up from friends, the media, or parents.
And as you peel these socially acquired layers away and move closer to the middle, you expect to find something uniquely yours, but all you find is one last layer that came from when you were a baby and your mom and dad taught you to talk the way they talk, and think the way they think. And after that, there is nothing. You are the onion, but you did not make the onion. You are a composite of ideas and values that have been taught you through family and friends and the media. Every “unique” idea you have can be traced back to something someone else told you.
So in a way, we’re all living by conventions that were given to us by other people, which makes us conformist in at least a small way. In a large way, we just conform. You conform to fit in at work, to fit in with friends, and we conform to fit in with ideals that surround us everyday. For example, anyone out there buying loads and load of “green” crap? Recycling? Anyone bringing their own bags to the super market? If you do anything to follow the green movement, have you done any research beyond Recycle Rex?
I’m not knocking you if you recycle. There is a lot of info out there that makes recycling make sense. There’s also a lot that does the contrary, so I don’t take part in the “green” movement. So, here’s what the conversation is like when I tell people I don’t recycle:
“Dude, why don’t you recycle!? That’s stupid.”
“Because studies have shown that you waste more energy than you save when you factor in running the factories, transportation, and all that, than you would spend if you just made a new bottle.”
“…whatever.”
Which leads me to believe that most people just recycle because all their lives they’ve been told it’s good for the planet. People need to start thinking for themselves. This statement, that we need to think for ourselves, is making a mountain look like a mole hill, I know. Basically, it’s like telling everyone we need to stop killing each other. This whole problem of people not thinking for themselves is so old that we see throughout the history of civilization. We see entire countries being taken over by one philosophy like in Nazi Germany or Caesar’s Rome. We see laws in countries that embrace democracy which encourage fair voting and public participation in government matters (responsibly, they hope) to try to boost the public interest in government affairs. Free thinking is the pillar that holds up democracy, and its absence has been the downfall of many a society.
Labels in American Government
Looking into American history, we find a quote from George Washington, warning against his country forming two rival factions. He expressed a great concern that two dominant parties would be intrinsically vengeful against one another and unable to work together, while citizens flock into each party looking for security and affirmation. This, he warned, could lead to the destruction of liberty in our country and promote a prevailing party member as a dictator.
After Washington’s second term, he died, and what was made of this country was just what he warned of. Today, we have Republicans and Democrats. You are one or the other. We get little books sent to us with just enough info to form an opinion, and off to vote we go. When voting it’s all spelled out for us: This guy is a republican and this guy is a democrat, in case you still didn’t know who to vote for. And when these people get put into office, we see little progress, and they still get paid.
It’s a joke.
People seem to think that they have to be one or the other. When I confess I am neither, most people don’t buy it and listen to my point of view so they can pigeonhole me.
“Well, if you’re pro-choice, you’re a democrat.”
“Well, if you don’t agree with the teacher’s unions and don’t want to invest more in public education, you’re a republican.”
No, I’m not. I’m a freethinking individual, the kind of person who started the Revolutionary War and made a country where freethinking people would be able to think for themselves and be rewarded for it with a powerful nation represented by those who agree with the majority and speak on their behalf. I know it’s easy to say I’m with them and just adopt and adapt until you fit the mold. It’s easy to not have to think for yourself and just vote for all the D’s or all the R’s on election day. I know this. But I’m not looking for an easy way out, and you shouldn’t be either.
Look around you. Turn on the news. There’s enough crap hitting the fan to make you want to duck, I know it. The national debt that is out of control with a president and a group of representatives that cannot come together to find a way out. We have elected officials making corrupt and immoral choices in our names daily. In California we’re dealing with a government that hasn’t been on time for a budget for as long as I can remember. I know there’s a lot going on and it’s hard to follow, but the more we conform to these labels of D and R, the easier it is going to be for these “representatives” to take advantage of us, steal our money, and not have to answer for it.
What is your triceratops?
What would make you change your principals, your philosophies, or in any other way alter your point of view? A favorite color is one thing, but you opinion on abortion, the death penalty, the budget, the environment, or anything else going on in the world around you shouldn’t have to be thrown aside because it doesn’t fit an existing mold.
Sure, all of us are who we are because of a little bit of conformity, but there is a line where human nature ends and horrors begin. The two party system has divided our country; our governments, both state and federal, seem to never be able to get anything done. There are no more Great Compromises being made, as party lines have grown so defined and so infected with hate that progress is being slowed to a crawl. And to make things worse, these labels have infected the system so deeply that no one, no matter how liberal a republican or how conservative a democrat, can vote the way they want to vote nor say what they want to say.
The idea of this article is not to make a point about the government as much as it is to make a point about your ability to think freely. When we bend to fit labels, we stop being individuals and start being part of a greater problem that I feel is ruining life all around us. I’m not a democrat, I’m not a republican, I’m not an environmentalist. I’m an individual with a lot of opinions that I would be happy to share with you. And if you’re not too tied to your labels and can speak freely, then maybe we can both learn something. But if you’re tied to some group with their own agenda, save it, because chances are you don’t know what their real agenda even is.
