No, this isn't a cheap shot at my fellow country-people. It is simply that there are things I experience that give me pause to wonder, so while I was wondering about why these same folks think they're better than everybody else, I also began to wonder about their herd-like instincts.
For a people who likes to think they're all free-wheeling, free-thinking, well, simply free individuals, I think one of the best nicknames for the USA would be The Land of Conformity. I've had the wonderful privilege to live in and experience first-hand and intensively cultures other than my native one, and what has always struck me hardest is how much more tolerant these foreign cultures are of non-conformity, of individuality.
As any child or developmental psychologist worth his or her salt and s/he'll tell you that the most insidious and nefarious violence we know of is peer pressure. It's is quite often, and is always potentially, devastating to those towards whom it is directed. I have friends who yearn for the "good old days" of their youth, but in mine, peer pressure was writ large. It was demanded, expected, and resistance was futile, if you weren't willing to -- literally -- take a beating.
Americans, it should be said, have always been good at hiding such things. They'll talk about school spirit, our team, our school, our college, our colors, and I'm not even talking about gangs. I've never lived anywhere where trends, fashion, and fads have been so important. It's not just the clothes, or the hairstyle, or the manner of speech, it's the whole package. Whoever is not in is definitely out and will be continually and constantly reminded of such, even if the in-crowd has to resort to bullying to enforce its standards.
You can be a lot of things in America, just don't be different ... well, unless you happen to make a helluva lot of money by being different. That's the only real way to find respect, even if it's phony respect. Look at Steve Jobs and Donald Trump.
But whatever you do, don't think differently than your neighbors, you become suspicious. Don't "play the game", and everyone will wonder what's wrong. Question America's symbols, don't sing the national anthem at the baseball game, don't say the pledge of allegiance (the mere phrase reeks of conformity) at the school-board meeting, don't be a staunch alumni, criticize the police for being too harsh, question the legitimacy of America's foreign (and domestic) policy, ask out loud why the incarceration rate in America is higher than the Axis of Evil's, wonder out loud where one gets the right to simply change definitions of words (like torture) and you'll find out faster than speeding bullet (which just might be the reaction) just how you don't "fit in" in the Land of Individualism, but not Individuality.
Don't get me wrong ... I don't expect everyone to be consistent in their beliefs and actions all the time. It would be nice, that's for sure, but I'm afraid it's just too much to expect of anyone. What I can expect, though, is that perhaps we be just a little more restrained in our criticisms of others and in our hardoverness towards those who don't see the world as we do, who don't conform.
This has nothing to do with so-called political correctness, but it has everything to do with a modicum of tolerance and respect.
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