Self Reliance Essay

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“Self Reliance” Critical Response Conformity is the act of abiding with social standards, attitudes, or practices, but why do people abide by these standards? Some believe that people conform with ideas because they do not endeavor to disagree, however I believe that people do wish to protest but wish to remain free from the repercussions of non-conformity until they have reached a point in which they can rise above. People do this because of the reason, as stated by Emerson in his essay called “Self Reliance”, “For non-conformity the world whips you with displeasure” (Emerson 5; par.11). Many people conform to someone else's view because they have none of their own. Others conform so that it is not necessary for them to fight a battle with someone who in their eyes is wiser. A person may do this because the person they disagree has more respect and for one to disagree would cast them in a shadow of neglect. The benefits from nonconformity are great. A person is free from following the rules of another for which they A key benefit of conformity is the ease of using it to gain power. Take for example politics in America today, no president has ever won an election from being part of an independent party, which would be what one would consider the path for the non-conformist. All presidents have either conformed to the ideology of either the republican or democratic party. There is a reason for why this is the

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