Nonconformist

[GoldShadowHunt]

For my advanced speech class, my teacher has assigned a "concept essay," in which we must define what a particualr concept means to us.
So, this sparked a thought. In a single word, What Does Nonconformity Mean to You?

I'll start it off: Expression

[TalaTsume]

anarchy

[Lost_Soul]

God, that's kinda challenging. Which is probably why it's a good idea. :p

Revolutionary

[Sins&Needles]

Leftist

[Gilenea]

Accidental synonymity

((If everyone wants to be nonconformist, isn't that, in a way, conforming to not conform?))

Gil

[Sins&Needles]

Artist

[GoldShadowHunt]

((If everyone wants to be nonconformist, isn't that, in a way, conforming to not conform?))

Gil

Yes. Which is why it is such a difficult goal to attain.

choice

[MyztDream]

It is nonexistent.

All of us attempt to attain true "individuality" (if there is such a thing) but all of us really want others to label us.
For example the goths call themselves "goths" and either knowingly or unknowingly encourage others to do the same, thus labeling themselves, proving there is no such thing as non conformity.

[DarkWolf]

Well done to Gil and MyztDream - the only people to have a philosophic response.

A single word alone is not enough. This is philosophy - the topic of discussion. Answer, then explain your answer. Any more single-word replies will be deleted.

If you want one-word replies: try the relay Word Game.

[Experiment6836]

Nonconformist. i remember seeing a comic strip, in it there was a sidewalk full of kids with spiked hair, sagging jeans, basically kids living out negative stereotypes, but get this, they where all wearing white shirts that read, non conformist. there was one kid with zero friends, dressed like a normal respectable young man, he had no non t shirt, he was shunned by the overwhelming population.

[Ves]

For example the goths call themselves "goths" and either knowingly or unknowingly encourage others to do the same,
Well seeing as how being a goth has nothing whatsoever to do with nonconformity for most goths, this isn't really a surprise. Of course like every sub-culture, there will always be a few that want to make it into something that it's not (and thus South Park gets something to take the piss out of).

For those that said that nonconformity is non-existant, you're confusing non-existance with impossibility. It is impossible to strive for non-conformity because as mentioned, by so doing, you become that which you're striving against. However this does not mean that the concept of non-conformity doesn't exist, if it didn't then this thread wouldn't have happened. There will be people who manage to not "conform" (and what is conformity anyway? a question far more tricky than what it is to not conform) they will do it without thinking about it and without striving towards it.

[WolfBlade]

All though I agree with Ves, I would have to disagree. Despite the fact that conformity is just another form of catagorization, it has it's own limits too. Like you all were speaking of how goth's try to be individuals, but because they are all striving to "be", they are somehow fitting with the ''IN'' crowd. There are limits to this. They will always like black, they all will listen to various bands of either Rock, rap, techno, or metal.

The most likely to be nonconformists' are writers. No two writers write alike. Untrue for Painters, Singers, and Dancers. NonConformist's are more spontanious than anything. For instance, I don't like shoes. I can't stand them to all hell and I won't wear them if I can. But I'll wear them when I have to.

I agree with GoldShadowHunt on that is just a difficult thing to obtain.
BTW> This is just my opinion.

=^.^= .\/,,

[Edwardo_son_of_haqim]

A non-conformist is someone who thinks for themselves without accepting the moral code/style of dress/music/opinion etc., that their peers or socity as a whole gives them. That is to say that they don't have to be "individual" by being different, if they are the same then it should be because that is who they are not because they simply conform to their peers. If they try to be different then are not a non-conformist as they are then conforming to another image which is not themselves.

[Ves]

All though I agree with Ves, I would have to disagree.
That sentence really did make me chuckle.
Wolfblade, I'm sensing that you're a writer :) seeing as writers can be similar as well, as can anything that can take inspiration from another individual.

And also for the record, not all goths are frantically trying to prove their individuality either. Indeed none of the goths I know do that.

[Buddha Monkey]

Well, in one way I'm a non-conformist, and on another, I'm a conformist.

I'm that outsider that somehow get's into the sub-culture. The non-goth that hangs with the goths, the non-redneck that hangs with the rednecks.

I'm a gamer, yet I don't eat, sleep, and dream about roleplaying. Yes, I know much more about my chosen system, but I don't schedual my life around being able to attend a game.

But, the fact of the matter is, if there is the term non-conformist, then anyone that fit's that description is in a way conforming to that term. There's a reason that Bruce Lee didn't want his martal art's named, and it's in a similar vien. When you give a name to something, then you expect it to act in a certain way.

Remember, that those that are Anti-Captulist are considered non-conformist in this country. Hell, amoungest my friends I'm considered a non-conformist because I didn't want Kerry in office (or Bush for that matter).

Amoungest the WW forum, it seem's those that are right wing are non-conformist.

That term can have many differnt meanings, like most word's in the English language, depending on the way it is used. Just because I don't have to call everything gay (which is a common thing to do, even amoungest the homosexual population that I am around), does it mean that I'm a non-conformist?

[Wolf-Bone]

These people giving answers like "leftist" or "artist" or "anarchist" or defining non-conformity with a single concept are being idiots. Leftists conform every day with the party line, as do those on the right, to some degree. Artists conform every day, modifying what they do to fit with the changing trends... whether those trends are cultural or political.

Conformity doesn't automatically mean self supression of the way one would naturally be were they not under pressure to conform. Conformity simply means similarity in form or character. So Goths, for example, conform to their group. But that doesn't make them posers. The posers are the ones who don't truly identify with the group, but pretend to for whatever social status being with that group brings them.

So the way I see it, people's real beef isn't with conformity itself, but with posers, or feeling like they're under pressure to pose.

And to go off on a tangeant a bit, this is why you can call just about every recording artist signed to a label a poser and probably be at least a little bit right. A lot of these performers are vessels for concepts thought up by people who are better thinkers than workers. They're representing someone else as much as, if not more than they are themselves.

I don't think there's anyone who doesn't conform to something in some way. It's just a matter of finding what that something is. The only reason the square peg doesn't fit is because he hasn't found the square hole yet.

[Amethyst]

Nonconformity is not rebellion. It's not about being part of a minority or expressing yourself through the arts. (As Ves said, of course writers and artists are all individuals who never influence each other....) Nonconformity means not accepting a given belief or custom at face value, but instead questioning it and discovering what works for you. If you end up agreeing with that custom/belief/trend, so be it; identifying with a group does not make one a conformist.

They will always like black, they all will listen to various bands of either Rock, rap, techno, or metal.
Gotta love that gothic rap. Is it something like this (http://tours.tsom.org/1999/poem.htm)?

[Hellcat]

My definition of non conformist is me. I do what makes me happy, dress to make me happy and I'm happy being me whether or not that fits in with anyone elses ideals. On the other hand I'm also conformist, sometimes my ideals follow the same path as a bunch of other people, that's not because I'm hell bent on joining up with a flock of sheep, it just so happens that they are heading in the same direction as myself. Kinda like when you get on a bus to go some place and find that the vehicle is jammed packed full of screaming school kids on their way to school. You might not be a school kid on your way to school, you just happen to be sharing the same band-wagon to a different destination.

[GreyOwl]

A nonconformist is one who deviates from the norms and values of the mainstream culture of the society that he or she comes from. The mainstream culture being defined as the culture that has given society a set of norms and values that define a particular society. For example, in England the mainstream culture is predominantly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Cannabis is not a part of the mainstream culture and therefore a person who uses this drug is considered to be a nonconformist.

The counter-culture of the 1960's and 1970's was considered to be nonconformist though elements of the counter-culture were later integrated into the New Age Movement which in turn is slowly being integrated into the mainstream culture of England.

[Hellcat]

The counter-culture of the 1960's and 1970's was considered to be nonconformist though elements of the counter-culture were later integrated into the New Age Movement which in turn is slowly being integrated into the mainstream culture of England.

This evidently implies that non-conformity is an ever changing element of society. In which case one could suggest that conformity is only that when non-conformity becomes a socially accepted and/or tolerated way of life, or when the number of non-conformists out number conformists???