Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Individuality, Can You Be Completely Unique?

asaris · 06-23-2003, 06:30 AM

It seems to me that no one is truly unique, though we're all unique in our own way. One of the most important parts of growing up is the formation of one's identity -- a deeply complicated process, to be sure. But from what I've seen, we form our identity by using the stereotypes available to us in our culture. The complexity of the stereotypes we use determines how much of an individual we are perceived to be by others. Some people simply live as a single stereotype, and these are generally the people who are perceived to be dominated by groupthink. Others use some combination of two or three, and these are more often perceived to be individualistic.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that 'individualist' is itself a very common stereotype that people follow (I'm not saying that you fall into this camp, rogue49), and so they purposefully form their opinions to be contrary to what they perceive the general opinion of society to be. Of course, this sort of person is no more unique than the solidly bourgeois office worker.

Do we have free choice in this? Well... Of course which stereotypes we tend to follow depends on our native abilities and the enviroment we grow up in. Someone with high native intelligence is more likely to think of themself as a nerd than someone without such gifts. But our natural gifts are also highly fluid, and how we exercise whatever natural talent we have has a significant impact on what talent we have at the end of the day. Someone for whom the image of athlete is really appealing can turn themself into such, even if their natural talents are not primarily in that area.

06-23-2003, 06:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
asaris Mad Philosopher Location: Washington, DC	It seems to me that no one is truly unique, though we're all unique in our own way. One of the most important parts of growing up is the formation of one's identity -- a deeply complicated process, to be sure. But from what I've seen, we form our identity by using the stereotypes available to us in our culture. The complexity of the stereotypes we use determines how much of an individual we are perceived to be by others. Some people simply live as a single stereotype, and these are generally the people who are perceived to be dominated by groupthink. Others use some combination of two or three, and these are more often perceived to be individualistic. It is perhaps worth mentioning that 'individualist' is itself a very common stereotype that people follow (I'm not saying that you fall into this camp, rogue49), and so they purposefully form their opinions to be contrary to what they perceive the general opinion of society to be. Of course, this sort of person is no more unique than the solidly bourgeois office worker. Do we have free choice in this? Well... Of course which stereotypes we tend to follow depends on our native abilities and the enviroment we grow up in. Someone with high native intelligence is more likely to think of themself as a nerd than someone without such gifts. But our natural gifts are also highly fluid, and how we exercise whatever natural talent we have has a significant impact on what talent we have at the end of the day. Someone for whom the image of athlete is really appealing can turn themself into such, even if their natural talents are not primarily in that area. __________________ "Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht." "The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm." -- Friedrich Nietzsche