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Thu 3 Nov, 2005 02:08 pm
Can anyone tell me the proper word for someone who just goes along with things, sociologically, and in society? Like, they'll have a huge house because it's the thing to do, and they wear all in-style clothing, because Paris Hilton does, and they have a stainless steel refrigerator, and a huge SUV, just because their neighbors do. I know, they're keeping up with the Joneses, but I need an adjective if not a noun. Sound OK?
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cabernet sauvignon took over
how come my stainless steel refrigerator has finger prints all over it?
Yes, a conformist is what I am
I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you
I'm everybody's brother and son
I ain't different from anyone
It ain't no use a-talking to me
It's just the same as talking to you.
dyslexia wrote:how come my stainless steel refrigerator has finger prints all over it?
you were overcome by hunger at 2am?
not exactly overcome, more like--I wonder if that roast beef is on the bottom shelf.
yeak well switch the lights on next time
Bad, conformist!
The first responder actually caught my drift. He said it's criminal to act that way. Not thinking, or having others think for you, is insidious. It is something that occurs every day in the USA, and it occurred with regularity in Nazi Germany. Sheep is right, but sheep seem so passive, and so innocent, that even their docility won't work to explain the harmful nature of not acting according to our own judgements.
This leaves me to conformist, which has to have been the best word. But even conformity does not presuppose an improper outcome that, at least in hindsight, can argue against groupthink. Conformity on the surface is value neutral.
Oh, clean stainless steel with light soap and water, nothing special.
So, let us think some more on this. But THANKS, everyone, especially the wordsmith from the west!
Bad, conformist!
The first responder actually caught my drift. He said it's criminal to act that way. Not thinking, or having others think for you, is insidious. It is something that occurs every day in the USA, and it occurred with regularity in Nazi Germany. Sheep is right, but sheep seem so passive, and so innocent, that even their docility won't work to explain the harmful nature of not acting according to our own judgements.
This leaves me to conformist, which has to have been the best word. But even conformity does not presuppose an improper outcome that, at least in hindsight, can argue against groupthink. Conformity on the surface is value neutral.
Oh, clean stainless steel with light soap and water, nothing special.
So, let us think some more on this. But THANKS, everyone, especially the wordsmith from the west!
hmmmm. just a note. I said sheep, because I think that's one of the worst things you can call a person.
Sheep aren't innocent or passive, they are stupid.
They scare at the slightest imagined provocation, but will be led to slaughter, smelling blood all around them. They know that evil is around them, but are to lazy, stupid, mindless to take action.
Sheep are not innocent either, they can be downright nasty, trampling others in their goal to be the first to be slain.
what you got against sheep tc?
no more sheepist remarks please
"Wannabe" is slang for that kind of person. I think it became popular a few years ago when young teen girls imitated Madonna's outrageous stage clothing. They were called "Madonna Wanna-be's" and there's a nice alliteration there.
In any case, I don't think it's criminal to try to look like Paris Hilton... Silly, maybe, shallow, imitative, but very much a young-person thing to do, imitating a fashionable star.
Criminal is more the behavior of people who allow their political system to be taken over by a cabal of powerful people who have only their own best interests at heart. Any other thoughts in this vein belong in Politics, so I'll leave off here.
Look at the perceptions from Chai and Wy. I rethought my relationship to sheep, and I remade my argument against looking like Paris Hilton.
It is true that stupidity goes into this going-along. lemmings do that to the point of suicide. I want to convey someone who is positively *out* for being just like everyone else. And, yes, the criminal element may have a political connotation, need not have.
Wannabe is excellent. It is a term, was used a lot in California high schools - there were wannabe gangbangers who were whiter than Swedes.
These are all very good, and we have wasted no time.
Thanks all.
Anti-iconoclast
Ha! I found a great synonym - an icononoclast is one who attacks cherished traditions. Well, since most of the traditions I've had have proven harmful, exclusive, mean-spirited, or just downright obstructionist, I'll call myself that for now.
I also do not appreciate the sheepist remarks, you will rue the day when the sheep - the super race! - finally reveal they have been controlling the human population since the dawn of time
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