I consider myself fortunate: I came out of my institution experience fairly well-adjusted, though my “inclination to conflict with social convention,” as diagnosed back in 1969 by one of my doctors, has persisted and will continue to persist.
But I don’t view that as a problem. The world is filled with too many people who espouse the conventional wisdom of the day. I place very little stock in such constructs, for wasn’t it conventional wisdom that fought to retain slavery, keep segregation on the books, and deny women the right to vote?
In Germany, didn’t so-called conventional wisdom nudge citizens to fall right into line behind Hitler?
Ralph Waldo Emerson articulated the herd mentality best:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
The world needs those who would flout conventional wisdom, not warehouse and silence them.
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