Where Are All the Rebels?

 I have decided to detour from the ‘Hypocrisy’ series for a turn and delve into something that has been troubling me lately. Since a very early age I have always been a nonconformist. In fact, all throughout my teens and beyond I have taken great pride in going against the grain. So, as a middle-aged man facing down half a century of time on earth, I wonder - what happened to all of the proud nonconformists?

See, back in the eighties it was a badge of honor to be ‘different,’ ‘unique,’ or even ‘weird.’ I have noticed that nowadays it is conformity that gets you into the ‘cool’ kids club, which seems antithetical to me. Where is the challenge in conforming? 

“Woke’ kids today like to pretend that they wear the badge of honor (vis-à-vis rebellion), but in reality they are simply in lockstep with the establishment. The media, academia, entertainment industry, and even corporate America (just to name a few) have cow-towed to the current progressive movement entailing such ‘virtues’ as diversity and the like.

Do you want to know why Dave Chappelle is so revered? It is because he is fearless. He told the #metoo movement to STFU. The same goes for Bill Burr. Americans gravitate toward anyone who pushes back against the establishment (i.e., we love the underdog).

This may be the most significant disconnect between Generation X and every generation that has followed. Gen-Xers were raised to be irreverent, sarcastic, and facetious. Young people today seem far too eager to gain acceptance by pleasing others through capitulation, wokeness, and self-flagellation. For instance, they see the racist and misogynist boogeyman behind every corner, and they leap at every opportunity to besmirch America without ever asking themselves, “where would you rather be?” 

Gaining acceptance through ones peers has grown tantamount to holding up the middle finger to the establishment. Everyone nowadays wants to be liked and so they are more than happy to virtue signal, regurgitate bland platitudes, and play the role that society has assigned them. Then they pride themselves on their courageous and bold stance. I miss the days when individualism was revered versus group acceptance. 

There is a gif that has gone viral showing a crowd of people giving the ‘Heil Hitler salute’ with a solitary man standing with his arms crossed, and it states, “Be like this.” I love that ‘meme.’ Do yourself a favor and take pride in being like that guy. Just remember what Thomas Jefferson said, approach everything with a “healthy dose of skepticism.” And before you dismiss Jefferson as just another white ‘slaveholder hypocrite who wanted to be free,’ remember that is was he among several forefathers who paved the way through the Constitution and Declaration of Independence that allowed for the eventual abolition of slavery and freedom of blacks in this country. 

Jean-Marc Bovee