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‘Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains’ –Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Recently whilst engaging in that time honoured past time of derailing a status update on a friend’s facebook page, an internet tough man(AKA cool guy) accused me of something so appalling, so embarrassing, so ego destroying that I ran to the closest mirror to take a long hard look at myself. I was called, a cliché. I know dear reader, it was a devastating ad hominem attack to be sure. It was almost as damaging as being hit with feather. Rousseau was correct in what he said, although the chains that I believe bind people today are the ideas of being an ‘individual’ or being, ‘unique’. Ask yourself honestly right now. ‘Am I really that much of an individual?’ Can you honestly say that there is no one else like you in the entire world? That after the last five decades, it is impossible that anyone else is like you at all. There is an immense sense of importance placed on being an individual. One source on the matter states that; ‘Asserting your individuality will increase your sense of significance, as well as your perceived value’. This to me is the driving force behind the need to be and ‘individual’; the belief that somehow you are less of a person if you are not an ‘individual’. This in turn leads to a fear, a fear of not being unique. This fear becomes the source of the chains that bind people. It is a strange duality to live in a society that has a need to ‘keep up with the Jones’ and yet maintain ‘individuality’. Worse is the mentality that breeds from this need to be an individual. The internet tough guy that was so quick to call ‘cliché’ is the uglier side of this fear for individualism. More aptly the failure to accept, that they are not an individual. The bitter irony perhaps in the end is that the biggest cliché is that of the modern individual that sets up a false sense of superiority and labels everything as a cliché. You know who I mean. Wankers like myself, that like to feel special of cause. No, I mean like the two individuals from a Simpsons episode that are mocking the band on stage for being ‘cool’. When one friend asks the other if he’s being sarcastic the friend replies, ‘I don’t even know anymore’. Realistically society today is predicated on the following of trends. Think of anything you are interested in today. Take music take your favourite band and google it. You will be bombarded with forums, fan pages, blogs. Congratulations you are one of thousands. Now consider how many of them dress like you, watch the same shows as you. Don’t be surprised you all have the same tastes so it shouldn’t be too amazing. Yet still remember; you have got to be an individual. ‘non-conformist as can be, you can be non-conformist too if you dress just like me’ – Emo song.
So what do I advocate? Simple just ignore the idea of being an individual. Learn to enjoy the music, clothing, movies etc without being caught up in this shallow game of trying to be an individual. Accept that you are not one, but one of many. Treat your life as they say in the Stanley Kubrick film, ‘Full Metal Jacket’. ‘There are many like it, but this one is mine’. You need to just have your life and do what you please. Who cares what is a ‘cliché’ and what is too ‘mainstream’. Unlike the earlier source claims, I guarantee that giving up on the fallacy of individuality. You will feel more relaxed and free of at least some of the chains that imprison us in life. I assure you, it is far more rewarding to see the commonalities between yourself and other; than trying in vain to be this one of a kind person. There is thousands of years of humanity that preceded you, and billions of people that inhabit this planet. You would be insane to believe that no where could another like you exist. In fact I would speculate that the law of averages would provide you with an exact copy. I would end by saying that you should take a while, think about this stuff. Run it by some friends and see if they respond similarly to you. But most importantly do not be some internet tough guy, because realistically I struggle to find a more frequently reoccurring type than the internet tough guy that ghosts through life thinking he’s unique and special. Internet trolls are a dime a dozen, hell you could almost say: “That is like totally so cliché”.
-Theodore Archer
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