[...] wonders if “the freedom of choose is the freedom to conform”. …walk around any neighbourhood in suburban “US and A” and what do you see? Cookie cutter [...]

The comment about the “Cookie Cutter” homes in suburban US and A reminds me an old song. In the 1960s a folk singer named Pete Seeger made popular a song called Little Boxes, written by a woman named Malvina Reynolds, about the proliferation of small, overly-similar homes that were springing up all over the bay area at that time.

http://ingeb.org/songs/littlebo.html

1. Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

2. And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives,
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

3. And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

4. And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

—

Kind of depressing, sure, but like you said perhaps just human nature at work. In the end most of us are conformists although we like to choose to conform and not be forced to conform.

Where I live they have cleared away whole hillsides, and in their place put up rather expensive homes. All the homes have the same amount of yard, same basic designs. Looking back it is always been that way I guess in my lifetime though with zoning codes, and big time developers, it even seems like it is more that way now. It seems like you have to go to homes built before 1950 to get any home on property that is unique in size or design.

—

I am not complaining I guess. Like you said, although we like to think we are unique, for most of us conformity will mark our lifestyle more than uniqueness. And even for those who try to rebel against conformity, within their own circle of “rebels” most of them will conform to what their fellow rebels are like so in the end you will have a mass of “rebels” who among them look exactly the same.

And even for those who try to rebel against conformity, within their own circle of “rebels” most of them will conform to what their fellow rebels are like so in the end you will have a mass of “rebels” who among them look exactly the same.

Steve, that is a profound statement. So you’re basically saying that there no rebels. Just sets of people who confirm to different standards.

Once in a while you find a “true rebel” but most of the time it’s just sets of people who conform to different standards.

Think of the “hippies” of the 1960s all with their tie dye shirts. They thought they were non-conformists but the truth was that they were just as much conformists as those they were criticizing. It was just the standard was different.

Once in a while you will find a “true rebel” but most of the time it is indeed just sets of people who conform to different standards.

Think of the Hippies of the 1960s, all with their tie dyed shirts. They thought they were non-conformists, but the truth was that they were being just as conformist as those they criticized. It was just that they were conforming to a different standard.

as long as conformity comes from people’s own choice, it’s ok. It can’t be compared to the communist system.

What Steve said about the rebels ultimately conforming to their own standards is so true! Look at your average ‘rebellious’ teenager…weird hair colours, body piercings and/or tatoos etc. They end up following the same rules of conformity to such an extent that they become stereotypes of themselves. I suppose the thing is that most of us feel safer with a tried and tested formula, even the most rebellious of us.

P.S. I think the word is ‘conform’. You’ve used ‘confirm’ throughout the post. Just thought I’d point that out. Cheers!

Pooja,
Your write
That was a mishtake of the speling.

[...] and pursuit of happiness. But I also have a theory that I’ve written about previously - *most* human beings are incapable of decision making, even in free societies. What you saw in this story is a prototypical example of conformity (”hey if all these young [...]