Analysis Of Colin Wilson's View On The Conformity Of Man

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Colin Wilson says everyone is a conformist. Are we all conformists? “The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in rain.” Colin Wilson. Is the average man and woman a conformist, acting like cows until the cowboys come? Sitting in the rain, is sort of a deep and insightful action, in my opinion. According to the quote the average person is a stoic. What does the word stoic mean? A stoic is, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a person who accepts what happens without complaining or showing emotion or one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain. So the average man is a stoic; someone who is indifferent to pleasure or pain. He really has a pessimistic view of the …show more content…

The great philosopher and teacher, Plato, believed that all humans want to be good and kind to other humans. He taught his belief in the goodness of life, an idea that the purpose of life was to find goodness at its most elementary level. I believe we all want to be good people and enjoy life and the experience of our interaction with other humans, which is the purpose of life. Now, many disagree on the purpose of life, for reasons ranging from religious to personal discrepancy, but Wilson cannot say that the average person is an unadventurous and unquestioning soul. Human nature, some might say the human condition, is to try and expand our own intellects by inquiry and questing for knowledge. Going through life devoid of emotion, in my opinion, should not be considered living. The quest for what is real and meaningful in life is not if bad or good things happen but how you treat others. It is not found in the way you show or do not show your emotion but how you talk, touch, live, love, and experience life with others. That is why I disagree with the quote from Colin Wilson, there is something more to life than if it’s a bad or good event that is happening to you, it’s how you treat the others who are …show more content…

The three fundamental reasons I disagree with the Wilson quote. “The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in rain.” Is the quote that says the average, which should be seen as every single individual human being as a whole society, is not affected or shows no emotion in their lives. Wilson must either be a hyper-stoic or does not see what happens in the world as bad. He really has a pessimistic view of the world, Mr. Wilson, for thinking the average man or woman cannot show if they feel pleasure or pain. Is the world really so bad that in his view we all just trudge through life, indifferent to the happenings of the day to day. By saying the average man, though, that leads us to believe there are some who are not so average, maybe above or below. The persons who could be considered above average, where do they fall on this outlook of pessimism. Are they able to be stoic and also show emotion without complaining about everyday life? Colin Wilson is assuming that no one can show emotion and we assume from his assumption that means the bad things but to be a stoic means no emotion. If you’re happy and joyful you cannot show it. Have they found the key to happiness in life? Then that leads us to believe that some are below

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