Conforming to non-conformity
I am currently reading this book called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It was written in the 50s about the future where books are outlawed and firemen like the protagonist Guy Montag burn them and the houses that contain them. In this dystopian American society, owning & reading books are wrong, firemen start fires instead of putting them out, communication and entertainment are through the wall panels of the televisor where people vegetate and call the characters seen through it their relatives, advertising is ubiquitous, intellectual is a dirty word and thinking, questioning and discussing things are not the norm.
People who are against these accepted norms are called anti-social; it is a loveless, spineless society that is self-destructing and smiling stupidly while it happens.
In a way, this book is scarier than Orwell's 1984 in my opinion, in a way that everything is saccharine sweet while being completely evil at the same time, and the invisible fist that controls society and its thoughts (or non-thoughts) have a justification - happiness. The scariest character is definitely Montag's wife Mildred. She's a psycho bitch that one, a smiling, plastic psycho bitch with relatives living in her wall.
The inability of the characters in this society to break out and question why is such a thing happening is profoundly frightening. Their happiness is fake and forced, and sadness is not taken as a normal part of human emotion, it is abnormal. They follow orders blindly, they agree to the general consensus without question. Conformity is in.
When I was a kid up until my early teens, all I ever wanted was to conform, to be like other people. I wanted my parents to act normal, I wanted to sound and look like other kids - it didn't help that I sounded like a boy, was tall and skinny and darkened by weekends spent in the pool and shy to boot. It didn't help that my parents are like the urban Malaysian Scrooge and strict.
And then I was in secondary school and oh I tried to like boybands like the other girls and do whatever they do. I wore the headscarf because they do, but that's not me. I had to lose my virginity because everyone else was not a virgin (or so they said). I had to take drugs because everyone I was close to was doing it.
It took me a good number of years to try to not be like other people. After I while I don't see the point. It's not gonna make me more lovable or anything, and why pretend to like what I hate. And why have the same things as others when I can have something different, or not have it at all (hahaha). But now it seems like supposed non-conformity is becoming a trend, what with the pop thrash that is Lady Gaga and her fake I'm so different-ness. Now being "different" is the in thing. So weird innit?
I do feel though, that no matter how boring or different you are, as long as you stick to who you really are, you'll be just fine. As long as you're not trying to impress anyone or blend in because you're afraid of sticking out, then you should be fine.
After all, conformity and non-conformity is way overrated.
People who are against these accepted norms are called anti-social; it is a loveless, spineless society that is self-destructing and smiling stupidly while it happens.
In a way, this book is scarier than Orwell's 1984 in my opinion, in a way that everything is saccharine sweet while being completely evil at the same time, and the invisible fist that controls society and its thoughts (or non-thoughts) have a justification - happiness. The scariest character is definitely Montag's wife Mildred. She's a psycho bitch that one, a smiling, plastic psycho bitch with relatives living in her wall.
The inability of the characters in this society to break out and question why is such a thing happening is profoundly frightening. Their happiness is fake and forced, and sadness is not taken as a normal part of human emotion, it is abnormal. They follow orders blindly, they agree to the general consensus without question. Conformity is in.
When I was a kid up until my early teens, all I ever wanted was to conform, to be like other people. I wanted my parents to act normal, I wanted to sound and look like other kids - it didn't help that I sounded like a boy, was tall and skinny and darkened by weekends spent in the pool and shy to boot. It didn't help that my parents are like the urban Malaysian Scrooge and strict.
And then I was in secondary school and oh I tried to like boybands like the other girls and do whatever they do. I wore the headscarf because they do, but that's not me. I had to lose my virginity because everyone else was not a virgin (or so they said). I had to take drugs because everyone I was close to was doing it.
It took me a good number of years to try to not be like other people. After I while I don't see the point. It's not gonna make me more lovable or anything, and why pretend to like what I hate. And why have the same things as others when I can have something different, or not have it at all (hahaha). But now it seems like supposed non-conformity is becoming a trend, what with the pop thrash that is Lady Gaga and her fake I'm so different-ness. Now being "different" is the in thing. So weird innit?
I do feel though, that no matter how boring or different you are, as long as you stick to who you really are, you'll be just fine. As long as you're not trying to impress anyone or blend in because you're afraid of sticking out, then you should be fine.
After all, conformity and non-conformity is way overrated.
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