I agree that displaying non-conformance is difficult. The degree of difficulty is dependent on the power structure that governs the country in which you live. For example, as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I stopped voting 12 years ago and I refuse to serve in the military or any of its by-product industries (I work in the construction industry and I refused to work on a submarine-building project). However, this “stand” that I have made is not really that difficult since I live in Australia – although voting is mandatory I get a dispensation under the conscientious objector rule – no big sacrifice, just fill out a form every 3-4 years and give my reasons. Also, military service is not mandatory in Australia and there is no draft (not yet) – once again, no big sacrifice. Finally, there a plenty of other non-military construction jobs available, so there’s still bread on the table for my kids.

However, I know of Witnesses in Korea, for example, who have the decision to make at age 18 of either entering 2 years compulsory military service or refuse and enjoy the automatic 2-year imprisonment. Now that’s tough for an 18 year old. But so is killing, and I admire the stand that these young guys take, especially to “erase” 2 great years of your young life.

It’s a little known fact that many German Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to be a “lemming” and participate in Hitler’s killing campaign. All the refusers went to concentration camps, as Hitler vowed to “annihilate this little group”. Admittedly, the number of Jews in the camps far outnumbered the Witnesses. However the Nazis devised a simple form that was designed to break the faith of the Witnesses. They simply had to sign a form denouncing their faith and they were free to go (unlike the Jews who were cruelly put into the camps because of their ethnicity – they had no option). The clear majority of Witnesses stuck their metaphorical finger up to the much larger, more powerful Nazi regime. Needless to say that the Nazis were furious at this non-conformity. Why? Did Hitler’s monstrous killing machine REALLY need a few thousand scrawny Jehovah’s Witnesses to pick up a gun and start fighting on the front line? They probably didn’t have the dexterity or physical strength to even pull the trigger! So why was Hitler so irate? It was the audacity of a few thousand powerless people to go against the other 99% of the population to display non-conformance against a rapacious power.

Any familiarities with today? Well you could replace the word Hitler with Bush, Blair/Brown or Olmert…………….etc etc. And you do hear the odd story of people refusing to serve or going AWOL, but obviously not enough from the killing that is still going on. And whatever your views of Jehovah’s Witnesses, however annoying they seem on a Sunday morning, you can (politely) tell them to leave your property in the comforting knowledge that not one drop of your son’s/daughter’s blood was caused by them, since they still refuse to bear arms. Our organisation still exists. Hitler’s is gone. 1-nil………..

The biggest difference one ought to notice is the size of the brain – people definitely have bigger brains than bees. Still, it makes no difference when we want to belong – and humans have a great need to belong to something. The Marines make a big point about belonging – makes it easier to define the “other” and then kill them. To belong, you must conform to society’s standards.

If you’re tired of being an American, move to another country. You’ll never really belong there because you won’t be able to conform to everything. The good news is that if you stay abroad long enough, you’ll change in subtle but recognizable ways to the Americans, so you’ll never really belong in America anymore. When you don’t belong anywhere, you needn’t conform to anything. Then you can see how long you can survive.

Non-conformists don’t pursue live my way or die toward everyone
who diagrees with them. If non-conformist aren’t allowed to be cri-
tical in any non- violent form or fasion, say the obviously murderous
m—–f—-rs in this administration, then conformists are the ones who
create social discourse in america. Only a a coward wouldn’t seek jus-
tice toward any form of sanction for simply exercising ones rights to
freedom of speech and sanity.

The only act a human being unconciously pursues is breathing. One
can conciously choose to end their breathing, but all living things
want to live. If because of your personal beliefs, you set up a system of social or political retribution that destroys an individual or group, then any goes in a fight. To use one societies epigrams, Life isn’t Fair.

Righteous non-conformity can do anything they want, as long as they get hit first. Words for words and actions for actions. All who give rice,
powell, wolfowitz, cheaney, ect respect have that right. I, and other
non-conformists have the right to denegrade scum de la crum in any-
way we choose.

I don’t worry anymore about bullying insults. I retort If you insult me f–k your momma in a tree or hit somebody first, f–k your momma in a church. Since life isn’t fair, you have to make it fair for yourself.
Finally, It’s my body. If the only way I can prevail is kill some m—-r-
f—ing physically superior bully, that person is dead. I make the call,
not society.

Attack someone first, they can to lay you out in a church. Inequities
in this society will not be tolerated anymore. Violent, self-defence
toward those who are violent and peace toward the peacefull. Any-
thing misunderstood or misinterperated is done purposely. Kiss-
asses f–k their mommas the tall grasses.

Non-conformists don’t pursue live my way or die toward everyone
who diagrees with them. If non-conformist aren’t allowed to be cri-
tical in any non- violent form or fasion, say the obviously murderous
m—–f—-rs in this administration, then conformists are the ones who
create social discourse in america. Only a a coward wouldn’t seek jus-
tice toward any form of sanction for simply exercising ones rights to
freedom of speech and sanity.

The only act a human being unconciously pursues is breathing. One
can conciously choose to end their breathing, but all human beings
living things want to live. If because of your personal beliefs, set up a system of social or political retribution that destroys an individual or group, then any goes in a fight. To use one societies epigrams, Life
isn’t Fair.

Righteous non-conformity can do anything they want, as long as they get hit first. Words for words and actions for actions. All who give rice,
powell, wolfowitz, cheaney, ect respect have that right. I, and other
non-conformists have the right to denegrade scum de la crum in any-
way we choose.

I don’t worry anymore about bullying insults. I retort If you insult me f–k your momma in a tree or hit somebody first, f–k your momma in a church. Since life isn’t fair, you have to make it fair for yourself.
Finally, It’s my body. If the only way I can prevail is kill some m—-r-
f—ing physically superior bully, that person is dead. I make the call.
not society.

Attack someone first, they can to lay you out in a church. Inequities
in this society will not be tolerated anymore. Violent, self-defence
toward those who are violent and peace toward the peacefull. Any-
thing misunderstood or misinterperated is done purposely. Kiss-
asses f–k their mommas the tall grasses.

I tried to make a similar argument earlier but couldn’t find the words. I totally agree with you Brian and I think in some ways that the article is rather reactionary and felt like it was “blame-the-victim” in its overall tone.

Everyone who claims they are a non-conformist in a totalitarian society is a hypocrite, but being anything but a hypocrite is irrational. There’s a rationality behind picking and choosing when to receive punishment – if one constantly receives punishment one is put into a social situation (becomes a social outcast) whereby one no longer has the power to effect change by means of non-conformity. Non-conformity is an aspect of communication (of saying the society is wrong) so if you can’t communicate you can’t effectively BE a non-conformist. There’s a cat-and-mouse game going on whereby the “non-conformist” conforms in ways that he deems non-critical so as to “tame the lion” of punishment so as to maximize the impact of his non-conformity in critical areas.

People who beat themselves up over their “hypocrisy” are egotistical and deluded. If one chooses to live in an utterly corrupt society such as the United States one is going to have to make some concessions in order to actually BE in that society and therefore for one’s non-conformity to have any social impact at all.

Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, “the end of living and the beginning of survival” for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.

The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term sea level rises of 70-80 metres. All the world’s coastal plains would be lost, complete with ports, cities, transport and industrial infrastructure, and much of the world’s most productive farmland. The world’s geography would be transformed much as it was at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels rose by about 120 metres to create the Channel, the North Sea and Cardigan Bay out of dry land. Weather would become extreme and unpredictable, with more frequent and severe droughts, floods and hurricanes. The Earth’s carrying capacity would be hugely reduced. Billions would undoubtedly die. Oliver Tickell

The Earth’s carrying capacity would be hugely reduced is the part that it’s not what you want but what you need. It’s to late to stop some of what Tickell wrote but there is still time to slowdown global warming to prevent extinction of the human race.

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) — A 19-square-mile (50 kilometers) ice shelf attached to an island in Canada’s northern arctic for thousands of years has broken from land, another sign of the effect of global warming, scientists said.

Nearly the size of Manhattan, the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated from Ellesmere Island in early August and is now floating in the Arctic Ocean, said Luke Copeland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa.

This is not something that is going to happen it already is happening. The time is now to fight back because there are forces at work who talk a good game but have decided it’s the economy stupid. It’s a little more than that for me the simplest way to explain it is they know not what they do. That commercial on TV that Gore and his people just put on is good. In the commercial it say’s at one part we are no longer asking it’s time to repower America and do it in ten years. It’s true and will give my kids and there kids a chance and I would hope that China and India get on board soon. The Earth has all the time in the World we don’t. Where’s the future is the big question as say the forces of the darkside get there way and in 10 years people start to find out it is to late and run away global warming is a reality not a good day. Have the forces of the darkside thought about this day? Oh yes they sure have. Did anybody watch the Republican convention with the flag flying and people yelling USA, USA, USA from the floor and drill baby drill and the grand speech’s and of course the Obama convention a little better but one thing for sure all done to keep you in pretendland, dreamworld. These people know full well how serious climate change is and what it means but don’t think you the average American Joe public probably don’t need to know right now. Well that’s right this is DV and average is probably the wrong word to use. There is still time.

But one must keep in mind that non-conformists pay huge penalties if their non-conformity takes the form of opposition to capitalist values, institutions, etc. Capitalism creates a culture which is all encompassing. Failure to conform for those people often means a lower standard of living, social isolation, divorce, alienation. These are huge prices to pay. And with regard to parenting kids, it’s an overwhelming challenge. Our kids are subject to so many influences outside of their immediate family that I think it is accurate to say that the major social institutions in capitalist societies essentially raise our kids, we just do the dirty work. It’s best not to be a parent at all.

I think the writer is addressing the milder forms of non-conformity. Those with more fundamental objections to living in a capitalist society must make compromises in order to endure a tolerable level of pain.