This week we were challenged to find an article, share our opinion about it, and ask questions.  For my article, I chose Conformity – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly by Bruno Mirchevski.  In his article, Mirchevski does a great job of explaining all of the ups and downs of conformity so I don’t really have any objection there.  However,  midway through his writing, Mirchevski states that many people aren’t living the lives that they want because they conform to the norms of society and this goes against their natural inclinations.  This act of betraying themselves leads to a disappointing lifestyle.  I don’t necessarily believe that this is the whole truth.  I believe that we must be wary to place the disappointment in our lives on one single thing.  By doing so we can miss the stuff that is really making us sad and end up being even more disappointed, or worse, even begin blaming ourselves.  Nonetheless, this article did leave me wondering two things…

1. In class, we learn that conforming can lead us to do things that we wouldn’t normally do.  However, this article makes it seem that conformity can make the world a safer place.  The combination of these two things makes me wonder if not conforming is worth the risk of decreased public safety?
2. In my independent book this year One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the characters were taught to conform to the rules of the medical ward where they lived in order to not be punished.  Is this type of conformity also wrong?