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Individuality

Discussion in 'Debates' started by Don9aldo, Jul 15, 2010.

  1. Don9aldo

    Don9aldo Well-Known Member

    What does it take for a person to become an individual; to stand out from the crowd?

    Is it their personality; their way of thinking; their actions; their achievements; or something else?
    Some could say that to want to become an individual is itself conforming to the will of the masses; take for example punks; goths; emos; or any other group who attempt to become different from the masses and yet find that they have become just another branch on the tree. Of course when the first person who attempted to become different broke away they would have been considered an individual, but over time as more people emulate that persons changes they still end up as "just another something or other".

    Is being an individual following your beliefs; your "moral code" as such, to the letter and never straying from that path. However, surely there were/are people who had the same beliefs as you and followed that code that code to the letter in exactly the same fashion.

    Maybe following your dreams is the answer; being persistent enough to follow those dreams is no easy task, but surely there have been/are people who have followed those exact same dreams and have become successful doctors/astronauts/businessmen/women before you; thus removing the "excitement" of trying something new and different which those dreams held.

    Is changing your personality, or, on the other hand, staying true to your personality the way to go? Or will it just set an example that will make people follow and mimic your every move and word.

    Is individuality all that important? After all it is easier to just meld into the crowd and go on with the natural course of life... but that is exactly what some people detest; they crave to be different; to set an example (be it good or bad) that removes them from the labelling system that encompasses human kind.

    I conclude, what do you think of all this? Do you perceive yourself as an individual, or just another drop in the ocean of 6 billion people?
    How do you set yourself apart from others? Do you attempt to, or just follow your friends/role models examples?

    P.S. I'll try to be the Devil's advocate here to encourage discussion.
     
  2. msg2009

    msg2009 Romulations sexiest member

    I know what makes an individual, a complete lack of caring about what others think about you.
    If you care what others think its putting pressure on yourself to conform, sooner or later you will.
    Individuals do their own thing regardless of what others say or do
     
  3. Don9aldo

    Don9aldo Well-Known Member

    However, it's impossible to completely disregard everything anyone says to you. You could, but your life would be severely lacking for it. And if their "own thing" is something which thousands before them has done? It's also near impossible to remain completely original, as someone else has almost certainly done it before you.

    I understand that all people are individuals in small ways (looks, possessions, etc.), and that everyone's lives play out in different ways. But what truly sets people apart from each other...
     
  4. Natewlie

    Natewlie A bag of tricks

    No it's not. The more you dwell into it, the less answers you'll come up with and the more depressing it will seem. There's very little things that set apart person to person but we all aren't that different, to suggest otherwise would mean that you either aren't human or you have some sort of rare illness no one else has. To think that you're completely or partialy different from the billion people in the world is a ridiculous idea and trying to achieve that is also ridiculous.

    The best anyone can do is just do what they want to do. Even if it means that you want to conform or do something else or a combination.
     
  5. Don9aldo

    Don9aldo Well-Known Member

    A whole bunch of stuff wouldn't have happened and the world would be a worse place for it.

    Without people trying to be different we wouldn't have modern-day music good music;
    there would be no great works of art; etc. etc.
     
  6. Natewlie

    Natewlie A bag of tricks

    That's implying that the people that were different were specifically trying to be different. Which they weren't, they just were. Trying to be different accomplishes nothing, doing what you want to do or just being is something that does make you more different than actually trying.

    That's also implying there's no good modern day music.
     
  7. msg2009

    msg2009 Romulations sexiest member

    You didn't say about been COMPLETELY original, you said been an individual
    Doing 'their own thing' is original because its coming from their own mind and not been influenced by others into conforming.
    The only truly original person would be someone thats had no other human contact
     
  8. Don9aldo

    Don9aldo Well-Known Member

    I know, I know; of course there's good modern-day music (quite idiotic of me to say that there isn't). "Good" does mean different things to different people after all.
    However, when you said that individuality wasn't all that important you then went on to say that the best anyone can do is be their own person which is itself being individual.

    Consciously or not; those people who explored new areas of artistic expression; scientific advancement; and other fields of general human advancement were acting as individuals. There may have been advancements because people realised that they wanted to become great; become different from everyone else through their actions (Otherwise known as ambition). Or, of course, there are advancements that take place purely by accident or through people exploring their field of expertise for enjoyment or other reasons.

    So wanting to be an individual is a good thing because it promotes advancement.

    I'll be using ideas from "The Road Not Taken" here.

    An individual should be defined by their words and actions; which is what sets them apart (Feel free to disagree on that). Following their own path can lead up to that person being either an individual (Taking the road less traveled by), or unknowingly going down the same roads which someone else have taken.

    I agree that it's impossible to be completely original in the same way that it's impossible to follow the exact same path that someone else has taken through life; everyone has their own choices to make in life, and each person encounters different situations to which they react in their own way.

    However, just because something comes to a persons mind without outside influences, is it still original if someone had that exact same thought? Or is the person that acts on that idea first the original one?

    P.S. Didn't mean to steer the topic in a completely different direction there; originality is a completely separate subject from individuality.
     
  9. MR4Y

    MR4Y Well-Known Member

    Always remember that you're unique. Just like everybody else.
     
  10. Natewlie

    Natewlie A bag of tricks

    How did they accomplish these tasks? By being them and not explicitly trying to be different. I meant for trying to be different for the sake of being different.
     
  11. gaynorvader

    gaynorvader Well-Known Member

    I'm pretty sure I'm an individual as I've never conformed to any one group, yet I am part of several different groups (jock, emo, goth, nerd, etc.). Also, I think people think of individuality as something strange and worth remarking on, because any time I meet new people who know an aquaintance of mine, the reply to exchanging names is invariably "Oh so you're Gaynor!" That for me marks me as an individual.