In Praise of Non-Conformism

In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson urged resistance to the conformism implicit in thought-control. It is possible that independence of mind, resistance to the mentality of a mob, is something that cannot be taught

To the extent that the poet is a public figure, Emerson’s belief in “the independence of solitude” retains its pertinence. “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

Assignment: what would Emerson say about Twitter and "the twitter mob"?

Comments

[Glen Hartley]

I still like Kipling's take:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
...

[Sylva Portoian, MD]

Kiplimg’s Say...
“don’t give way to hating”
I ask Kipling
‘How can you do’?
If the person is born to hate
If the person is taught to hate
if the person is surrounded by hate’
‘Thee’ will continue hating whatever you do.
Prevention of hate should start from birth ...
As the person gets older the hate will rule...forever...

My New poetry book “Why Hate=Hateness=Hatism !?!Should enter Curriculum