I have been reading King Lear. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it revolves around the life of King Lear after he splits the kingdom of Albion among two of his three daughters. From that point, many heavy themes are presented, and among them is the relevance of certain ideals, predominantly individualism. In other words, it begs the question "are you still yourself, even without all the things that define you?"
From there, I decided to take this line of thinking further (and into the realm of pretentiousness). How do we know that we ever truly are ourselves? How do you know that that guy at the mall in a tee shirt and jeans is dressed that way because he truly just likes it? It is really amazing how even though some things may be extremely widespread, their impact is extremely minimal. Conversely, teenagers today face traumatizing forced changes in personality, usually for no more than to fulfill wishes of fitting in.
All of that is not to say that popular culture is an unavoidably terrible thing, though. Okay, maybe it is, but that's the point of popular culture; to reach and influence large numbers of people. All it takes to attain true individualism, though, is to work around this seemingly insurmountable roadblock.
Since these phenomena are virtually impossible to avoid, the strong are left to find ways around them. Those willing to go against what has come to be know as the norm are often ridiculed or seen as strange. Those who choose to go against the grain from the inside risk their name in favor of their personalities. I admire this type of pride and investment in one's person. The normal people are the ones who dare to be different.
This is more normal than you.
Think of it like this: would you be the same if you had never heard the music of The Beatles? Do you honestly think that you would be yourself if you couldn't call yourself a gamer? Now realize that none of this is up to you. Other people have been making you who you are since the day you were born and they can take it away almost as easily. There's nothing you can do until then except love it or hate it.
In some desperate effort to tie this jumbled rant together, I'll close with something I'm fairly certain relates lyrically to King Lear, and certainly pertains to the point of this blog:
P.S. - None of this has anything to do with games.
P.P.S. - Had to cut it short because my entire first draft was wiped.
You make an interesting point, I give you that. And I believe for the most part it is true. But you missed one, important detail.
The individual isn't just defined by these fad's or creations around us. There is one thing that will make us, though probably not 100%, our own individual. And that is choice.
One of my favorite quotes is relevant to this. We, like dice, cast ourselves in the direction of our choosing. Meaning... despite whatever table the world has handed to us, life is a product of our choices.
I'm a teen, and I'm proud to say fitting in for the sake of fitting in has never appealed to me. And sure, our choices in life may sometimes be limited, but we can always make that choice. The one true freedom anyone has.
Interesting blog.
At first glance, I may look like I just try to follow the trends. I wear casual jeans and band tees everywhere I go. It's comfortable, I like the bands I wear, and I feel like I look good. But if you take a minute to talk to me or hang out with me, you'll find that I'm really different.
There's a lot more to individualism than just fashion trends, what the world wants us to be into, and the next big thing. It really has to do with your interior personality, even if the clothes you wear or the things you support suggest that you're just going with the flow. Not that I think your blog suggests otherwise.
The "look" of a person is just part of the whole identity. Behind closed doors that crazy lady is just a sellout norm dressing a certian way. The only person who knows who she is truely inside happens to be her. People's identities are only controlled by others to an extent. If you can throw of the reins of society you can be free to be yourself. But its not easy.