Paradox in a box

"Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance and vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs, you know NOTHING about art or sex that you couldn't read in any trendy New York underground fashion magazine...Proto-typical non-conformist. You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store Gestapo. You adhere to a set of standards and tastes that appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges-BULLSHIT-giving a thumbs up and thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art. Go analog baby, you're so post-modern. You're diving face forward into an antiquated past, it's disgusting! It's offensive! Don't stick your nose up at me!"

- Say Anything "Admit It!!"

How many of us know a person like this? How many of us know an individual who wants so bad to be the one to “break the mold” that, instead of reaching said goal, they find themselves thrust into another mold altogether. Instead of becoming the stereotypical jock, they find themselves becoming the stereotypical musician, or they go from being the stereotypical artist to being the stereotypical class president. Human beings want so desperately to be unique, to stand out from the crowd. We want to prove to society that we don't need their approval. But the fact is we crave it. We seek to be different, nay, we force ourselves to fit the molds of what others have defined as "different" or "unique" so society will stroke our egos by telling us how special we really are. We put forth all this effort, just so we can look down all those "no quite as special as I am."

I quote again Say Anything

"When you walk by a group of quote-unquote “normal people” you chuckle to yourself, patting yourself on the back as you scoff. It's the same superiority complex shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell, that makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma you spend every moment of your waking life BITCHING about!"

We are a walking talking paradox! We strive to be different, but we're not! We long to be one of a kind, but instead we're just another one in a million begging to be noticed and accepted by our peers. We try to be “the non-conformist” but instead we’re just conforming to someone else’s standards of non-conformity. When are we going to realize you don't have to know the name of every indie band, watch every Tim Burton movie, or pretend to enjoy Donnie Darko to be "hip" or "cool". The thing you can do to most emphasize your uniqueness is be 100% you all the time! We strive to be “cool by the numbers” then constantly tell ourselves we’re the ones coloring outside of the lines, but we can’t deceive ourselves forever. If you truly want to be different, stand up and say “I’m done playing this game!” and carry on with being the real you!

Yours truly,

The Littlest Blogger