When you gaze into the herd, the herd gazes also into you.
We hear a lot about how society presents us with so much pressure to conform, blah blah blah. Certainly there are plenty of people out there who are obsessed with being interpreted in a particular, fairly narrow way. (I TAed for enough interchangeable blonde sorority girls to have some evidence of this.)
On the other hand, I've also noticed a fair bit of social pressure, admittedly in quite different social circles, to be as un-cliched, as un-stereotyped as possible (and not in the sense of "I want to be a nonconformist, just like all my friends!"). I've seen people abandon things they were genuinely interested in, go to great lengths to modify their behaviour, merely because they felt that they were acting in a manner that could be associated with some particular stereotype.
What's up with that? Is there a new bimodal distribution? (Well, maybe not all that new, arguably it's been around for a while, but it's certainly something I'm attuned to these days.) Is the desire to be seen as entirely unique and unstereotypical simply the mirror image of the desire to be seen as belonging to the herd?
Discuss while I go cook dinner for me and my spouse. *g* (Gluten-free veal parmigiana, if anyone was curious. We ran out of bread.)
ETA: Oh, that's why the built-in thermometer on the oven didn't seem to be working, it only works if the oven's using the bottom burner rather than the top one. And the bottom burner has been hiding under a metal tray for, uh, quite a while now.
On the other hand, I've also noticed a fair bit of social pressure, admittedly in quite different social circles, to be as un-cliched, as un-stereotyped as possible (and not in the sense of "I want to be a nonconformist, just like all my friends!"). I've seen people abandon things they were genuinely interested in, go to great lengths to modify their behaviour, merely because they felt that they were acting in a manner that could be associated with some particular stereotype.
What's up with that? Is there a new bimodal distribution? (Well, maybe not all that new, arguably it's been around for a while, but it's certainly something I'm attuned to these days.) Is the desire to be seen as entirely unique and unstereotypical simply the mirror image of the desire to be seen as belonging to the herd?
Discuss while I go cook dinner for me and my spouse. *g* (Gluten-free veal parmigiana, if anyone was curious. We ran out of bread.)
ETA: Oh, that's why the built-in thermometer on the oven didn't seem to be working, it only works if the oven's using the bottom burner rather than the top one. And the bottom burner has been hiding under a metal tray for, uh, quite a while now.