Enemy Is Conformity

The Enemy is Conformity
(A discussion of what Colin Wilson thought about the average man based on his quote about conformity)

“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” President John F. Kennedy said this, advising the nation to take a stand against conformity. The discussion on conformity is never ending. Most people claim to despise it, but conform anyways. Others use the radical idea that conformity is the only way to create peace throughout the world. Then there are always the people who argue that conformity will destroy society. There have recently been many books and movies written with the idea that conformity, or a type of utopia, is the correct way for a society to function. Stories such as The Giver and Divergent show that this idea doesn’t always work because there is always the one person who stands out and refuses to conform, calling out how ridiculous the idea of conformity is. In the real world, we also have these kind of people, such as President Kennedy and Colin Wilson. While The Giver bases its story off of forced conformity, Divergent plays with the idea that most people choose to conform. Throughout the story, it shows that most people choose to remain in their own factions after their test, conforming to the comfortable ways of life. Very few people stand out and choose a different faction. Colin Wilson stated, “The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.” I