The more conforming you are, the more stupid you will be

“Be a leader, not a follower” was the slogan of the 90's, seemingly trying to create a generation full of individuals rather than conformists. 

Woof, not a very relevant way to start a blog cube in 2025, but sometimes we must look at the past to figure out the present. “Be a leader, not a follower” was something we were supposed to value, while ignoring that it’s not valuable at all. Who said this, “be a leader, not a follower”? Must have been distinguished free thinkers who saw the decline of free thinking in our society, right? Surprisingly - no.

I remember it so clearly: “Be a leader, not a follower” was an opening credit sound bite in a reality TV show. "Lead, don’t follow", this is what the cool people do. This is what you want to be, a leader, not a sheep who does what others do because they do it. The irony is that this sentence was most often featured in reality TV opening credits, or ads for Adidas. Oh my god, be a leader by buying our mass-produced shoes. I roll my eyes. But it’s the reality TV opening that is truly mind bending in retrospect, because it’s technically true, but absolutely meaningless. 

What do you imagine leaders do? Whatever or whoever popped in your head - what are the qualities that makes them leaders? Do people in reality shows possess that quality? I think not. I think our perception of leaders is misguided because leaders are not innovators or free thinkers, they just provide what the masses want. Leaders don't change anything, they don't innovate, or develop, or improve - they regurgitate what the followers want to hear. They repackage old tropes into new angles. Lead? Don't follow? What a joke.

“Be a leader not a follower”. Sounds good, sounds like the right thing to be - someone who leads, as opposed to someone who follows. On the surface sounds like a good idea. Lead, don’t be a sheep-person who does what others do because they do it. Being a sheep-person is the easy way to go through life, and if your goal is to have an easy life, then you should keep going. This blog cube is for the brave, this blog cube is for the actual leaders. This blog cube is for fighters for justice. This is for those who can't conform anymore.

When you’re a conformist, you must constantly sacrifice your thoughts and desires and act according to convention, not your inner voice. This is not necessarily a bad thing, some desires should be suppressed. If your inner voice is a prick, following convention would be better for everybody. But when your inner voice is telling you to stop, think this through, don’t jump, don’t laugh, think, and you ignore it, conformity just won over your conscience. After all, if you ignore that voice enough times, it stops taking up any space, and soon enough you can barely hear it at all. 

Conforming to society is seeking high status in that society. High status can be achieved in many ways, but conforming is the easiest way to get the most status. Conformity is anti-altruistic in its nature, since an altruistic person cares about how others feel, and a person seeking status cares about how others feel about them. 

The concepts "opposite" to conformity are:
1. Nonconformity - Broadly, this is the refusal to conform to prevailing rules, standards, or norms. It can be passive (just doing your own thing) or active (deliberately rejecting norms).

2. Independence - In contrast to conformity, independence refers to maintaining one’s own beliefs and behaviors regardless of group pressure. Unlike nonconformity, it doesn’t necessarily oppose the group—it just isn't influenced by it.

3. Anticonformity - This is a step further than nonconformity. It involves deliberately going against group norms to assert independence or identity. Example: If everyone in a group likes pop music, an anticonformist might loudly declare their love for obscure experimental noise just to stand out.

4. Individualism - As a cultural or philosophical value, individualism emphasizes personal autonomy, self-expression, and prioritizing individual goals over group expectations. It contrasts with collectivist norms, where conformity is often valued more highly.

Conformity is a lie anyway, since it points to the invented past that creates the illusion that our reality is unchanging, as if the rules always existed as they are today. Reality as I defined it here is a set of knowledge and current and past affairs. Well, we know for sure that some of this reality was rewritten and distorted. The past is not magical, it’s just selectively curated, the history was written by the winners and is perpetuated by the descendants of winners. What "IS", reality, doesn’t give us the full picture, it gives us a single-color puzzle with many pieces thrown out.

Anticonformity is a lie too. Rewriting scientific facts and gaslighting reality into conspiracy is as much of a lie as conforming to the magical times when everything was great. Sayings like “Go against the grain.” “Be a critical thinker” “Don’t be a sheeple” “Do your own research” have been abducted by conspiracy theorists and bullshit spewers. This is the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction. Just like conformity, anticonformity is not free thinking, it’s just choosing the ideas and notions that are the opposite of conventional knowledge, even when that knowledge is well supported by science. So anticonformity is not the answer either. This creates a reactionary relationship with conforming, not an honest one.

People who value conformity or anticonformity are not bad people. It's a matter of perspective, they're basically trying to "survive". Social media leaders, trend setters - are leaders of followers, and they will be dethroned if they don’t provide what their followers want, on both sides of the conformity spectrum. The power structure is the opposite of what we think - an influencer can only influence if they provide what the fans want. If they provide something the fans don’t want - they’re not going to gain more fans or keep the fans they already have. The crowd has the power, not the leader. The same thing is happening in politics. If the politician doesn’t conform to the polls, they will not be elected. This doesn’t create ACTUAL leaders, this creates wimpy robotic followers of the crowd, tailoring their message to the direction of the wind instead of having a strong spine and a sturdy umbrella. 

BUT THERE IS ANOTHER WAY! 

Nonconformists owe nothing to nobody. Free thinkers pay the price for not conforming to societal norms with being looked at as if they’re weird, crazy, delusional, rejecting reality, naïve, stupid, uneducated, lacking empathy, not considering the feelings and needs of people. Free thinkers are considered to be bad people, when they are actually the leaders we should admire. Free thinkers are nonconformists.

The societal message is wrong. “Be a leader, not a follower” is anti-intellectual and anti-individualist. “Be a critical inspector, not a conformist” would be the much harder path to take, but if this path is taken by many - it would benefit society much more. We think that being nice to people is more important than being fair, just, heroic. It’s harder for people to stand up for something that is right than it is to side with the oppressor, the bully. 

“But it’s human nature to be socially conforming”. FUCK. THAT. If you think you can’t resist your nature, you haven't decided to be your own person, yet. Saying “it’s human nature” is a product of intellectual laziness, of giving up, of conforming. The claim is like a ball floating in a shallow puddle - spherical, the up side is always up. “I’m conforming because it’s human nature to conform” says the conformist, and nothing will change which side is up. This claim in itself makes no sense - the ideas to which you are conforming must be said by somebody for the first time at some point, done first at some point, invented, presented, be revolutionary. If it’s human nature to conform, whose ideas are you conforming to?

So don’t be a leader, don’t be a follower either, be critical, be a thinker, be a nonconformist. Actual free thinkers are not popular, but they give space to their inner voice, and that is a powerful thing. So powerful that it can change the world.