Wednesday, September 08, 2010

"The Art of Non-Conformity" (interview)

Posted by Mickey Z on 09/08 at 02:05 PM
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  1. Yeah, all I heard as a young kid was the whole bridge jumping thing, like, “if Johnny Briggs put his hand in the fire would you do it?”

    But here’s the bitter irony ... that piece of so called non-conformist advice was always used to scold me for doing stuff - that was non-conformist. If you all see what I’m getting at.

    Like I skipped school one day and walked to a lake with a friend - then you get the don’t follow others line - to persuade you that the school option was better, essentially the boring follower option.

    That kind of reverse logic is used everyday in the political mainstream.

    Posted by Andy from Shanghai  on  09/08  at  03:26 PM

  2. Thanks, Andy. That’s part of what I liked about The Art of Non-Conformity as a book. It pointed out would be obvious in a more honest society.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  09/09  at  06:17 AM

  3. Good morning Mickey and Andy.

    Yeah, not conforming is quite natural and so the people who aren’t sure of what to conform to might ask, what is natural and this question in confusing, oppressive societies is also quite natural and expected.

    In a healthy society, maybe real cooperation as opposed to conformity might prevail. Presently, cooperation is defined as taking orders from the oppressive authorities and making sure you clock in right on the hour. In fact, screw the clock, the calendar, put 3 strings on your guitar and string them backwards, sing out loud with no reference to any song, send a letter to the pope telling him to resign.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  09/09  at  07:32 AM

  4. Evening all.

    Very interesting interview there.

    Aside from that…

    Q. How many amoebas does it take to change a light bulb?

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  09/09  at  11:00 AM

  5. Article seems to have fallen off planet green - the PG search returns the same url, but it hits “page not found”

    Looked like an interesting article though....

    I am a nonconformist retraining (at 40) in a non-conforming profession (Chinese Medicine) in order to offer non-conforming medical attention (ie outside the medical insurance scam) because my previous conformist career was killing my spirit little by little.

    Joe - I fully agree.

    Amoebas/lightbulbs? none - they operate by “smell”...the oldest of senses (but I bet you have a better answer...)

    Posted by subgenius from hell-A  on  09/09  at  03:30 PM

  6. Hello Andy, Mickey, Joe of Maine, Michael and subgenius from a sunny Daylesford - that seems to change to clouds followed by showers, though, every 10 minutes or so. 

    On the one hand, I agree with Charles B. - disliked university while I was there in the late 60’s/early 70’s, to give one example - but think it is important to get a good education which in the best possible case leads to critical thinking.  Now to expendables’ objections ..

    This is my last comment and visit to this great blog for the next 2 1/2 weeks - we’re off to Melbourne tomorrow morning, and on Sunday morning it’s off to New York again.  Back in Australia on 26 September.  I’ll give you a ‘tingle’ early next week, Cool Observer aka Mickey, so we can ‘schedule’ a meeting.
    Until then - take care!

    And best wishes to all the other expendables.

    Posted by Helga from Daylesford, Australia  on  09/09  at  10:31 PM

  7. Oops, that should have read ‘I agree with Chris G. ..’, not ‘Charles B.’ I must be getting old ..

    All best again for all of you,
    Helga

    Posted by Helga from Daylesford, Australia  on  09/09  at  10:35 PM

  8. Hello everyone.. Sorry the interview seems to be off line at the moment. I’ll see what I can do.

    subgenius: Good luck with the new path.

    So, Michael: What’s the answer?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  09/10  at  05:04 AM

  9. One.....no, two.....no, four...., no, eight....

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  09/10  at  05:08 AM

  10. How many Amoeba’s does it take to change a light bulb. I’ll assume Amoeba is a code word for americans, therefore it takes at least 1750 americans to change a light bulb that will be found defective and must be exchanged so americans will stay in the dark for another 230 years at least.

    Posted by Joe of Maine from The Window  on  09/10  at  06:27 AM

  11. Hi all… Just some thoughts about ‘higher’ education.  It is the one prejudice that is not only socially acceptable, but is institutionalized.  Many of the most educated people I have known during the course of my lifetime have been self-educated. Having a piece of paper should not be an entitlement to so many different kinds of employment. Being ‘educated’ is important. Having the piece of paper is not much evidence of any real learning. Going to school can be one of the biggest detriments to real learning.
    College has become big business and even the public school system has become corrupted to the point that it is almost beyond repair.  Maybe it’s time to start from scratch and design a better way to educate children and also the rest of us.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  09/10  at  10:40 AM

  12. The cruelest irony in nonconformity is that advertisers feast on it. (Wanna express your unique individual style? We’ve got just the widget for you, in a limited edition of 36 million!)

    The link to the interview is not conforming, MZ.

    “If you’re burning a Koran, please light it with a bible.” - Blaine Capatch (Though a Torah will do in a pinch.)

    Posted by Zen Prole from Boston (temp)  on  09/10  at  11:50 AM

  13. Hi Zen...Anyone burning the Koran,Please read it first. And then write a 2000 word book report on it.
    (This whole thing amazes me. Way back in the 50s when I was teaching in a small NJ school, I made it a point to have a copy of the Koran on the book shelf. At that time, no one had ever heard of the Koran. There was no controversy.  Back then, we were hating Koreans.)

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  09/10  at  12:20 PM

  14. Koreans, Korans...burn ‘em all. It’s what we Americans do best.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  09/10  at  12:21 PM

  15. Btw, the interview link should work now.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  09/10  at  12:22 PM

  16. talking of lightbulbs....

    Posted by subgenius from hell-A  on  09/10  at  02:59 PM

  17. Thanks, all. My annual 9/11 post is now up. See you there.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  09/10  at  05:30 PM

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