this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2024
46 points (87.1% liked)
Showerthoughts
29612 readers
968 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I mean in the grand scheme of things there are only a handful of types of people, maybe a few hundred and those types repeat over and over. Everyone has their own unique experiences, personal drama and relationships, but their behavior and core traits are shared with probably millions of people throughout history. Thinking you are unique is not a rational belief and if it becomes integral to one's personality (like it has to millions of people before them) I think they should be mocked, just for the sake of getting their heads straight.
It's not that you aren't allowed to be the most important character of your story, it's just that you shouldn't think that's because you are something that never was before and never will be after.
The snowflake metaphor really gives us everything we need. Yes each one has a different crystalline pattern but ALL of them will melt at the same temperature. Thinking your uniqueness extends to everything and frees you from all the rules is the problem. Of course, conservatives love rules too much and don’t even recognize when they are setting up rules for how your crystalline pattern is “supposed to be.”
The way I think about it is that we're all "snowflakes". No two people are exactly the same. So while one can correctly claim to be unique that also applies to everyone else. It's not like everyone else is the same but you're unique. Also, being unique doesn't automatically mean someone is better than others - one can also be uniquely bad.
I think you've stumbled on it yourself. If every person is unique and special, nobody can be singled out or given preferential treatment. That would be an impossible task to cater to ~6 billion or what ever we are at now, individually
We're up to 8 billion now, it's crazy
What if someone IS unique, though? I would consider Socrates unique. He was so determined, stubborn, and self-assured of his belief that he was a clueless fool that he was willing to die for it. What if someone is a once-a-generation brilliant mind or psychological anomaly? What if someone has a schizospectrum disorder and experiences a reality nobody else lives in?
I'd argue that's not a unique person, but a unique skill of an ordinary person. Interacting with Socrates as a person probably wouldn't have been extraordinary but experiencing his unique ideas for the time would have.