John Stuart Mill’s “ Of Individuality, as one of the Elements of Being” was very uplifting. This writing hit home for me because I have numerous times debated society’s idea of what is normal. Mill is absolutely correct that Individuality is what distinguishes a leader and helps them to rise and set themselves apart from the crowd. Individuality presents itself in an ongoing cycle in society. At first it seems that individuality, being different is weird. People who are individuals are seen as radicals and are sometimes shunned by society.
“ Towards which every human being must ceaselessly direct his efforts, and on which especially those who design to influence their fellow must ever keep their eyes, is individuality of power and development” (pg 715)
However the world has progressed and human nature as a whole has progressed due to the innovations and weird ideas of individuals. The turning point of individuality is the shift once other individuals validate your individuality. As long as an individual’s beliefs are validated by another individual, then what is weird becomes a fade or a trend. Over a period of time an Authority figure sees the ideas of an individual to be valid therefore making “weird” the “normal”.
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Simone,
ReplyDeleteGood observations and comments on Mill's appeal for individuality. Your post makes several insightful remarks, but you would have benefitted from more (and better incorporated) textual evidence and examples. The sole quotation you have lacks any context, and the partial nature of the sentence quoted makes it more difficult to understand.
I did a post on this essay as well and I found the nature of it to be very true. Individual opinions and ideas are to be recognized and discussed not concealed. I agree with your insights on how individuality helps to create new ideas and distinguish leaders. We are not meant to all be the same, for if we were society would not develop nor improve.
ReplyDeleteAcceptance is something that we all look for, whether we are eccentric or pretty basic. I agree with you that sometimes the things that make us individuals can become a fad to mainstream society; take for instance Lady Gaga, the emo culture, and vampire adoration. The individuals behind these phenomenas caused a change in society's ideals and now our gauge of what is weird and what is acceptable has evolved.
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