Streams of Thoughts 4: Conformity and Limited Uniqueness

This article does not relate to art. However, there are some thoughts that I would like to share with you about the events happening around us. Thank you for spending your time reading this and I would love to hear your opinion too!

 The issue of Michael Jackson rose again after I almost get over with him. MJ’s doctor Conrad Murray is on trial these days and the whole process is showed on TV. I was shocked by the unexpected information that released during the first day of the trial, such as the picture of MJ’s dead body and a tape record of MJ’s mumbling after taking excessive drugs in May, 2009. As for why such a giant star would end his life like this, my mom’s answer caught my attention: he did not get enough education. In my philosophy class with Dr. Lorey, we discussed, why do we come to Cranbrook? What is education all about? In that class I thought very practically that education is for a good job, but now I think I have a better answer.

The most important function of education is to teach us the rules in the human society and to guide us to fit in the society. To put it simple, education is like a magic chip-making machine, for whatever you put in there, it produces chips which may have different shape, size, flavor; education allows limited uniqueness while shaping everybody into a certain kind of product--- a chip-making machine produces different kinds of chips, but it never produces chocolate. At school, we learn not only knowledge, but also the “rules” in dealing with others, which make us “normal”. MJ, who went to school for only several years, completely lost his focus after the 2005 court case because he lacked basic social skills; on contrast, Bill Gates, who at least finished high school and got into Harvard, started a new life in charity work after he stepped down as the chief executive officer of Microsoft. MJ’s miserable ending was caused by his lack of education and the knowledge of “social rules”. We extol uniqueness, while isolate those who are “too unique”, like MJ; however, it is the lack of uniqueness which makes us extol uniqueness; in reality the socially acceptable uniqueness is extremely limited and the function of education is to teach us the limits.

It’s hard to say if conformity is a bad thing. We have to admit that humans are social animals. This may sound passive, but it is the way the society works. My computer is broken and I have to get a new computer this weekend. My parents insisted that I should get a Mac. Except the practical advantages of Mac, they want me to get a Mac so that I look not so oddly old-fashioned. Personally, I have no interest in technology and I’m still using the MP3 I got in 4^th grade. “You’d better get a Mac if half of your classmates are using Iphones and Ipads.” My parents reasoned (I just noticed that I can’t even spell ‘iPhone’ correctly ;D). Thus, I had another lesson on “how to be normal”, and I think my parents are quite right. This is the rule and you’d better accept it and MASTER it.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is a master in using the sense of conformity. I love his words, “people don’t know what they need, Apple tells them what they need.” Instead of following the public taste, Apple creates fashion and takes advantage in people’s sense of conformity. This also reminds me of MJ’s words, “I do whatever fashion forbids me.” He made teenagers wear the white socks and red jackets because “everyone else is wearing them”. Those who know how to take advantage of conformity succeed in the human society.