Non-conformism

So a friend of mine has a friend that - while being civil to me - hates me. It's little bother to me as I'm not huge on him in the first place, but what's curious is why he hates me, and that my friend dislikes the same thing about me.

So say they, I go out of my way to do the not-done thing, and to not conform, and this really pisses both of them off. I never really wrangled a good reason out of her, and so this is where I address that issue.

First up, what is conformism? What is done and what is not done changes everywhere, based on the level of development of your area, class, custom, tradition, religion, location/climate, etc. What is done to the level of conformism is subjective and arbitrary, so these arguments don't really get far.

But the real flaw with this argument is that it isn't built on any solid basis against non-conformism, that no argument is given to prove the flaw in deliberately going against the norm. It's just "You go out of your way to not conform (oh, and that's bad.)" As such, the argument is useless because it doesn't clarify, justify or explain anything, just point out an action, label it wrong, and claim it should not be done.

I do what I feel like if it doesn't hurt anybody. I don't give a fuck about conforming, or not conforming. If I want to paint my nails, say "No" instead of "Yes" when people call my name or wear my socks odd and inside out, you ain't got one good reason why I shouldn't.

I think the whole thing is just down to the age-old human idea of "natural" and "unnatural". Naturally, I fall outside some people's comfort zone, which makes them... well, uncomfortable. They don't like that.

Well I don't care what they think. I'm not going to change the way I am just because I make people uncomfortable. That would be conformism, and I can make a fuckton more arguments against that than I've ever seen against non-conformism.