The Cult Of Likabilty

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Any guy who wears a neon pink t-shirt with bike shorts and pink socks with pink shoes is a nonconformist in my book. Even more so if he is a sailor. YMMV

How'd you get a picture of me in my biker gear?

BTW, my reference to humans and certain insects is a fairly well established comparison. Unlike any other mammals, we are able to form massively large communities. The only other animals on this plant that create similar societies are insects like bees and termites. Of course, our "uniqueness" is that we create these mass societies out of individuals, not drones.

At least we like to think we are individuals. Hmmmmm...




Why go fast, when you can go slow

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

They used to.. the "George W Bush" pronunciation, "nucular" is getting more common. Heard it from a BBC reporter the other day. Almost choked on my Cheerios.

From Wikipedia:

U.S. presidents who have used this pronunciation include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush as well as U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale.

I always found it interesting that President Carter pronounced it this way, since he served on nuclear submarines.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

I always found it interesting that President Carter pronounced it this way, since he served on nuclear submarines.

I think he served on a nucular submarine.

Mark

[Delancey]

Nucular? Oy veh!

[Canibul]

NuClear industrial strength Visine. Now available in one gallon squirt bottles in Denver.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Unlike any other mammals, we are able to form massively large communities. The only other animals on this plant that create similar societies are insects like bees and termites. Of course, our "uniqueness" is that we create these mass societies out of individuals, not drones.

Before we started killing them off in huge numbers, bison seemed to form fairly large communities.

"As late as 1871, a young soldier named George Anderson described an “enormous” herd of bison in Kansas which took he [sic] and his men six days to pass through. “I am safe in calling this a single herd,” he wrote, “and it is impossible to approximate the millions that composed it.”"

[JPA Cate]

Even groups of non-conformists have normative pressures exerted by the group. I agree with Delancey that such pressure is apparent here on CF.

I've been fairly consistently around here for a few years, now. I got flamed, and didn't like that at all. It took me a while to come around to the notion here, that continued arguing to support one's own opinion was a monstrous waste of time. So I leave it for someone to either take the value of what I write, whatever it might be, or leave it.

Some people seem to have low tolerance for different ideas, and others seem to be more flexible. I say "seem" because one can learn a bit about how to try and express one's thoughts in a palatable form, and then use words to make your thought appear less blunt, hence less objectionable. I think that is how I have accumulated the unknown-till-a-moment-ago green squares, plus I also endeavor to make my posts helpful, playful, or supportive. Does this make me likeable? maybe

I think non-conformity exists on a scale ranging from least conforming to most conforming, and that it is a trait that should be considered as tones of grey, ranging from white to black. Some of us use internal referants to decide *things*; others tend towards external ones. The internal people are the more independent.

Ann

[model 10]

When it comes to mechanical things and the way things work in general on a sailboat here on earth, it doesn't make sense to not conform, yet some do.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by StuM

Before we started killing them off in huge numbers, bison seemed to form fairly large communities.

"As late as 1871, a young soldier named George Anderson described an “enormous” herd of bison in Kansas which took he [sic] and his men six days to pass through. “I am safe in calling this a single herd,” he wrote, “and it is impossible to approximate the millions that composed it.”"

What a sight that must have been. To be there at that time would have been a wonder to behold. A wonder that very few were privileged to see. Massive herds that took tens of thousands of years to multiply but yet were quickly decimated on the arrival of a few. The sound of millions of hooves thundering across the great American plains I can only imagine the stupendous sight.
But I do like this analogy. Interesting the discussion put forth here between conformists to the non-conformists and the comparisons. I wondered after reading through this thread how that may apply to CF. Who really are the conformists and the non-conformists and how easily and less than humbly do we classify ourselves. Who are the buffalo hunters and who are the herd on CF? Do we get along as a whole or do we assassinate those who venture from or identify with the herd? Forget the green boxes. Look at the real numbers given by CF. Those of the "Replies" and the "Views". It is not abnormal to see 300+ "Replies" and 25,000+ "Views"
Because of what I do I have a somewhat interesting insight to CF that I believe most others do not. I love CF. It has been both a great outlet for me in disseminated information and a source of people who have real questions that seek me personally for answers. This is what I have observed in a non scientific/CF way. Each month I get at the least half a dozen calls on my phone from around the world. Not always from members of CF but from non-members of CF who read and lurk the CF and are apprehensive to contribute, much less join CF. The comments from them are usually the same. "I love to read the CF forums and I learn a lot but I do not become a member or participate" because, as one persons aptly called it, "The Dirty Dozen" Those that have to consistently put in their two cents worth on what seems every thread and harangues those that ask innocent if not repetitive questions and demand they seek any number of previous threads for their answers and not bother those "In The know". How this defines us is that we have to honestly ask ourselves, are we the herd, or those guilty of " killing them off in huge numbers" and how does that define us as conformists as opposed to non-conformists?


Halden Marine Services | Marine Watermakers, Solar Panels, Wind Generators

[Canibul]

It's not about making sense, but assuming that what makes sense to you automatically makes sense to someone else is the basis of a lot of misunderstandings and problems. People have different priorities. Different personalities. Come from different cultures.

To say it doesn't make sense to not conform doesn't make sense.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by StuM

At least the Brits know how to pronounce nuclear.

So do most Americans.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by Canibul

To say it doesn't make sense to not conform doesn't make sense.

Water flows downhill everywhere on earth. Why say otherwise? It's a waste of almost everybody's time to argue that.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Guy

Water flows downhill everywhere on earth. Why say otherwise? It's a waste of almost everybody's time to argue that.

Hmm...... , but then how does it keep returning to the top of the hill? There is an otherwise to be said!

[model 10]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Hmm...... , but then how does it keep returning to the top of the hill? There is an otherwise to be said!

Maybe if water vapor was the same thing as water but it aren't.

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Hmm...... , but then how does it keep returning to the top of the hill? There is an otherwise to be said!

Not every non-conformist is a leader, but often leaders are non-conformist. They lead others to the very ideas that become consensus.

Without these forward thinkers we have no new ideas. Yet every "new" idea is surplanted.

Does anyone recall "Oblio and the land of the Point"?