• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Friday, November 1, 1996

IDENTITY:

Being a free-thinking spirit when it's easier to conform, let others make your decisionsI'm watching the Branch Davidian compound burn to the ground, live on CNN. As I see the ATF charge and finally retreat as the building bursts into flames, I find myself thinking: Wow, why would anybody want to follow that wacko Koresh anyway? I flip through the channels and stop on a commercial for the U.S. Army telling me to be all that I can be. Wait a minute, I think, who's the bad guy here?

Is it Koresh? Is it the ATF? Is it both? The more I think about it, the more I wonder why anyone would decide to join a cult, the military or any other institution that decides what its members are going to do with their lives. I'd never do that, I think, I'm an individual, damn it. Then I glance at the clock and jump off the couch. Crap, I'm going to be late to work.

Stuck in traffic on the commute home, I look up to see a billboard. Next to the picture of a famous basketball player is the slogan "Be your own person ­ Nike." When I get home there's a Levi's commercial on TV in which adolescents are telling me what unique individuals they are.

Life's pretty scary. Things change so quickly that it's hard to know what to do. Choices are really hard to make. It's so much easier to let someone else make those choices for you. And there are so many people who will gladly provide this service. Perhaps you'd like a cult to co-opt your identity, or maybe a government institution. A nice corporation would be more than happy to tell you where you're going. Maybe you can find salvation in a university that validates your life and makes you feel educated.

Or you could strive for individuality and independence by purchasing those products that will help you be whoever you want to be. The choice is yours. Now, who's going to make those choices for you?

That's the decision that each of us gets to make in the modern world. Who will define what we are?

If you want safety and security, join a company that will take care of your basic needs and give you a few toys while letting any chance you had for original ideas and creations die inside you. If you want to feel like you have a real say in how things are run, go out and vote for one of the swell candidates who are up for election. Try not to think about the fact that who wins the election will affect your life about as much as who wins the Super Bowl. And if you really want to feel like a rebellious individual, buy this pair of jeans, and this car, and this cologne, and this deodorant ...

The funny thing about individuality is that it's a socially constructed concept. Only in the confines of social order can we think of ourselves as individuals. Another funny thing about it is that the symbols most of us use to express our individuality (such as our clothes, the books we read, the music we listen to) are all mass produced.

So the next time you're sitting at Starbucks, sipping an over-priced cappuccino and waxing philosophical about what an independent thinker you are, consider the fact that there are literally thousands of other morons across the country who are doing the exact same thing.

So, what can we do about all of this? Well, I hate to sound like I'm copping out, but I really don't know. I mean, I want to say that I'm an individual who makes his own choices, but I know that's pretty far from the truth. I've been socialized as well as anyone else, and it's rather difficult for any of us to think outside the confines of what we've been taught. I realize that's kind of a depressing thought, but for the most part I think it's true.

I guess there are a few things we can do. Start by thinking about why you're doing what you're doing. That sounds obvious, but ask yourself, "Why am I wearing this Gap shirt? Is it because it's a high-quality article of clothing that will do the best job of taking care of my shirt needs? Or is it, as is more likely the case, that Gap shirts are cool and all the cool people are wearing them?"

This goes beyond clothes and other material possessions, too. Why are you a member of that church? Is it because it provides you with real spiritual growth and understanding, or is it a way for you to feel accepted, like one of the good people? Hey, if your answer is the former, more power to you but if it's the latter, maybe you need to think about what that says about you.

Look, I can't speak for anyone else or give anyone else the answers. I'm just trying to do the best I can for myself. So, in this world where identity is sold in a bottle and institutions tell us who we're going to be, I've made my choice.

I choose to resist.