Responding to a Quote by Colin Wilson
Psychological Ideas About the Potential of Man
Colin Wilson is an english writer as well a philosopher, critic, and novelist. Wilson has written countless works on his understanding of humans and their behavior. In all of his works, Wilson goes on to explain his thoughts on how and why humans act the ways they do. In one of his works his suggests, “The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.” This quote can be interpreted in several ways. Therefore, the question here is, what is Wilson trying to state about the average man/woman? The way I perceive this quote is simply that Colin Wilson is stating how the average man tends to …show more content…
For example, just walk into a high school, you will notice the styles and attitudes of the various students are all very similar. That is because it is a known fact that if one does not conform to the majority, they will be looked down upon and outcast. Therefore, it is a natural desire to be accepted into the majority and because of that, the average man or woman will go to whatever extremes to achieve that. Not only is this prevalent in high schools, but almost anywhere you look. Fashion magazines, as well. Whatever the press deems as in-style or trending, is then what everyone strives for. If society says that it is more attractive for women to be skinny, then women will strive for that because they know that that is what is people want. Vice versa, if society says curvy women are more attractive, then that is what women will strive for because they are aware that that is what is wanted from them. In these ways, it is more than obvious that the average man and woman are conformists. That is simply just because it is not natural to want to go against the majority. Just like the lecture every mom gives their kid, “If your friend jumped off a cliff would you do the same thing?” Well the obvious answer is yes, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Typically, the consequences are not evaluated because in the moment it always seems as if doing what everyone is doing is of course, the right thing to do. One doesn’t have to be a philosopher to make the simple conclusion that the average man or woman is a
Psychological Ideas About the Potential of Man
Colin Wilson is an english writer as well a philosopher, critic, and novelist. Wilson has written countless works on his understanding of humans and their behavior. In all of his works, Wilson goes on to explain his thoughts on how and why humans act the ways they do. In one of his works his suggests, “The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.” This quote can be interpreted in several ways. Therefore, the question here is, what is Wilson trying to state about the average man/woman? The way I perceive this quote is simply that Colin Wilson is stating how the average man tends to …show more content…
For example, just walk into a high school, you will notice the styles and attitudes of the various students are all very similar. That is because it is a known fact that if one does not conform to the majority, they will be looked down upon and outcast. Therefore, it is a natural desire to be accepted into the majority and because of that, the average man or woman will go to whatever extremes to achieve that. Not only is this prevalent in high schools, but almost anywhere you look. Fashion magazines, as well. Whatever the press deems as in-style or trending, is then what everyone strives for. If society says that it is more attractive for women to be skinny, then women will strive for that because they know that that is what is people want. Vice versa, if society says curvy women are more attractive, then that is what women will strive for because they are aware that that is what is wanted from them. In these ways, it is more than obvious that the average man and woman are conformists. That is simply just because it is not natural to want to go against the majority. Just like the lecture every mom gives their kid, “If your friend jumped off a cliff would you do the same thing?” Well the obvious answer is yes, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Typically, the consequences are not evaluated because in the moment it always seems as if doing what everyone is doing is of course, the right thing to do. One doesn’t have to be a philosopher to make the simple conclusion that the average man or woman is a