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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mcg404 who wrote (17999)	4/15/2003 5:56:57 PM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 81139

John > Conformity is a double edged sword. Useful when it curbs antisocial behavior That's in fact the point I was trying to make --- "anti-social behaviour" is usually the attempt of the individual to escape the suppression and the bullying of the group. They, in turn, call this "uncooperative" amongst other damning epithets. > Useful when it ---- harnesses the power of unified efforts, Yes, provided the "harnessing" is voluntary and offers a perceived benefit to all participants. What usually happens is the "harnessing" is compulsory and the only benefit falls to the one who coerces the group. (Back to the "following orders" notion where the individual is brainwashed to do as he is told) > harmful where it stifles creativity, innovation, etc That's precisely the point. Society is so constructed to deprive the individual from any particular benefit of his own creativity, innovation etc. Most inventors actually go bankrupt patenting their invention and then trying to defend that patent against those who have infringed it. Most artists die in penury and achieve fame only posthumously. It is the art-dealer and the "collector" who make the money. In our society, it is invariably the enterprise of the shark which is rewarded and not the enterprise of the scientist, engineer, artist or other creator. >The ideal is to reach a balance, no? The ideal is to camouflage oneself into letting society believe one is a member of the group while actually being "subversive" and advancing one's own interests, if possible. To survive one has to be effectively schizophrenic --- a split personality --- and be able to demonstrate apparently contradictory behaviour, between the selfish and that which the group (or groups) demand.