When do you conform?

Chill wrote: Great video buddy, you've got great energy when you're interviewing. A word of advice: sometimes, when listening to others, you nod your head furiously and it looks rather goofy. Don't know if you've picked up on that when watching back the vids.

Regardless, it's cool to see more amateur asians put themselves out there on social media (without being a "pick up artist" ). Keep it up!

As for the topic of "conforming", what everybody else is doing couldn't matter less to me. I don't benchmark myself against others, only against myself. Am I doing what I enjoy and what makes me happy? Am I accomplishing my own goals?

If tomorrow everybody in the world copied my style, I'd be myself. If tomorrow nobody in the world had my style, I'd still be myself. People who don't conform for sake of not comforming (i.e. hipsters) don't make any sense to me. Once something they like goes mainstream they don't like it anymore. Can't they see they're just letting their tastes be influenced by others?

Maybe what I enjoy doing coincides with what others enjoy doing, or maybe it doesn't. At not point am I consciously making the decision to "conform" or not.

I know I nod my head a lot. It's one of those habits I'm working on correcting. Thanks for letting me know. If you see it in future videos, please point it out again. That's the only way I'll correct that habit.

JackOfAllTrades wrote:

TeddyJerr wrote:

JackOfAllTrades wrote: There are two types of conform, one's social and the other moral. Social is one that I can follow. Not giving one's name during introductions, not shaking one's hand, performing vulgar gestures, not smiling in public, and passing one's bodily gas are all considered social taboos (at least here in the U.S.), however can you imagine if these WERE the social norms? I myself would not be immune from conforming to social norms (no matter how...unhygienic it may be) and neither would anyone else whom wish to stay approachable by others (no matter how they feel about it). However, if it were of a moral characteristic, then I'm afraid that I would be an outcast. What if murder (self-defense excluded), slaughter of the innocents, and violence upon those who sought only peace, thievery, and acting upon one's "darker" instincts were all morally accepted? Or worse...what if it is to be expected and if not carrying it out would label you as a criminal? What say you then?

Alas, I do not believe such matters would be seen as normal (within a modern civilized society at least), but remember, although laws are written within a short span of minutes, morals are taught within a manner of years.

Very interesting analysis! A very interesting moral one I can think of is dog eating. To the West, that's basically murder, but to some countries in the East, that's just like eating a pig or a chicken. There was this very insensitive Vice documentary that tried to play on Western moral standards to get views, it really angered me:

It surprises me that VICE would portray eastern culture in a negative light in any way for they are very politically liberal, thus they would be of a very open-minded and accepting thought process. I myself have disdain for them for certain reasons, but this has left me baffled.

Either way, to your own words, I do not believe consuming cats or dogs to be a moral affair, more of a social one in fact. However, should ANY animal be treated poorly regardless of their fate, then that itself would be of a moral issue. And even if it were to merely be of a social issue, that is one that I would not partake in no matter the communal consequences that behold from it, for I myself have dogs.

Word!

manny wrote: Hey OP you make cool videos man, and you're very good at interviewing people. That tall Aussie chick in the video was cheeky eh? "Translated into Swiss" lol.

Well here's my two cents worth: Conformity usually has negative undertones, at least to someone who grew up listening to punk rock and being a bit rebellious in nature like experimenting with drugs and doing stupid shit overall lol and not taking shit from anyone, but I remember reading this article online not too long ago, it's basic premise was that "that rebel kid you know growing up usually turns into a neurotic, Louis CK type guy later on" lol, that shit I think really hit the mark on this topic. Everyone has to grow up eventually, and conform to a job to pay the bills and other things, et cetera and so on and so forth, but there are times when to conform and it's appropriate to do so, and then there are times when a people must rise up against tyranny. Take for example, the founding fathers of the United States of America, they were tired of living on their knees to some monarchy so they decided to (with very careful planning of course) secede from Great Britain and form a nation of their own making where they sort of "turned the tables" on how a nation should be governed, that's it governed and not ruled by a dictator. Although, I think many Americans can agree with me in saying that the folks on Capitol Hill these days are a bunch of idiots. It's a shame how this country is run nowadays. No real leaders anymore.

That is all.

It's true! I like what you said about having to grow up eventually. In LA, I met this dude who was a professional model all his life. He's in his mid-40s now and has never had a 9-5. Sure, he's a joy to hang out with. But he has absolutely no filter and never cares what people think. I've never met a 40 year old guy like him. He's like a teen still wrapped in an adult's body. Nothing against that. Just against the norm. Still, I'm learning a lot from him, after all, my life is going in its own crazy direction too, so I need people like this in my life to remind me that there are people who are different and go off the beaten path.

Edit: and yes, the Aussie girl is very cheeky. She's hilariously unfiltered

maybe all the time.
i have to try to look presentable when the mailman hands me a package to sign, because i'm usually in pajama pants with messy hair.
i laugh too loud sometimes, but it comes out so fast that it's too late to try to tone it down initially.
when i go to big 3-day conferences, i'm annoyed that it's during hot summers, because once i sit next to someone at a big stadium after walking a long distance to get there, i'm just thinking, "oh gawd, she can smell my sweat, i just know it."