The Conformist (or non-conformist) Society

With another holiday upon us and with Iowa next in the line of the few states that recognize gay marriage, I have been thinking about how pretty much everything we do and think as individuals is dictated by the larger society... or more particularly, by various entities within our society. Every single day we encounter the seemingly mundane. We read signs. We do what they say. It came to a point long ago where we no longer even question what we are asked or told to do. We never consider that there could be another way to do things in place of custom, tradition, and prescribed societal more. I have not sure that we have, in any of our lifetimes, truly questioned or considered on a large enough scale to be truly meaningful.

To be clear, I am not even talking about laws.  Although I am comfortable with the opinions expressed in this hub extending to laws, they are not the target at hand.  I am speaking of the things that we are not required to do that we follow along with any way, some harmful, some seemingly innocent.  I am also referring to the notions that we embrace as simply the way it is when, in reality, someone else devised the paradigm to be taken simply as the way it is .

I recognize that this might be a symptom of the existential dilemma I just cannot get past, but sneaking suspicion tells me my questioning of life as we live it has broader meaning. 

I was in Whole Foods the other day.  They are pretty big on framing themselves as this environmentally conscious company.  They encourage you to buy reusable bags and really evidence of their push to be perceived as 'green' comes at every turn in their store as well as in their external marketing efforts.  Simply put, it's all bull shit.  Whole Foods has created a perception in society that they are the green grocery store... the healthy and superior choice.  They allow this brand to extend - and the ensuing definition of who they are and what they stand for - as far as they are comfortable with it extending.

Elaboration?  A verbal specimen?  Okay...

Why does Whole Foods have a produce department?  Based on the various messages on display throughout their store, one would think they would be staunchly against the notion of a supermarket produce department where goods sit on trucks for days and often come in from locations hundreds or even thousands of miles away from a particular store location.  If logic prevailed, one could consider Whole Foods genuine and consistent if they only stocked produce that one could not get at a local farmers market at a given time of the year.  As opposed to seeing bins full of fruits and vegetables when you walk into a Whole Foods store, you would see a few items not available at your local farmers market along with information directing you to their location and days/hours of operation.  But, of course, such an approach would hurt the business model of Whole Foods, which both generated and encompasses their green message.

Yet, so many of us, pony tails firmly cinched and yoga pants hugging skin, feel good about shopping at Whole Foods.  We buy our produce there.  We eat up their bull shit.  We conform to the message they are sending our way without a thought, let alone a critical eye.

Surely, I could do a hub a day (and maybe I will!... or not) providing other examples.  Political ones like gay marriage - which follows little more than religious dogma and carried-on traditional morals.  I mean, we only feel a bit weird when we think of two guys kissing because we have been programmed to feel this way.  It's tough to escape, even if you are a self-proclaimed 'tolerant liberal.'  And less significant ones like giving kids candy on Easter as opposed to breaking ranks and doing something different and healthier.

I wish their was a way to de-program society.  Sort of like deprogramming cult members or sucking the addiciton out of an addict's body (I think people try to do this).  To take us all back to state where we have no preconceived notions, and when someone tries to hoist one on us, we question the living shit out of it.  And ultimately reject it, as a truly thoughtful society probably should.

I am not sure what I am calling for.  Whatever it is the state of nature probably does not allow for it.  Maybe it is a form of anarchy where there are no rules, no laws, no codes, and community standards are based on well, the community, as opposed to the predefined structures given to us by religion, politics, and our parents and their parents and their parents and their parents...