Question
Suppose that tomorrow the government of your country is taken over by teenaged rebels who require, on pain of death, that you wear your hair in a bright green Mohawk, or some other style you would prefer not to contemplate, and give public lectures extolling the music of Britney Spears (or... you get the idea). Would you do it?
I think I would. I see a very bright line between what I may be called upon to do to meet others' expectations and who I am inside my own head — again, assuming that the expectation-meeting doesn't involve any behavior that I think is wrong, other than the minor sin of telling lies that don't hurt anyone. I can't decide if this makes me a bad person.
(I originally framed the question as having to profess a religion you don't believe, but that would be a very different question for anyone who, unlike me, already has a strong religious faith. So I'm going with Britney and bad hair.)
I think I would. I see a very bright line between what I may be called upon to do to meet others' expectations and who I am inside my own head — again, assuming that the expectation-meeting doesn't involve any behavior that I think is wrong, other than the minor sin of telling lies that don't hurt anyone. I can't decide if this makes me a bad person.
(I originally framed the question as having to profess a religion you don't believe, but that would be a very different question for anyone who, unlike me, already has a strong religious faith. So I'm going with Britney and bad hair.)
posted by Lucia at
9:03 PM
4 Comments:
I grew up professing things I did not believe and looking unlike my real self. It didn't get me the approval I sought, but it certainly was good training for life in the working world.
And I would be comfortable giving lip service to a religion I don't believe. Guess I'm not a natural born martyr.
By
roxie, at 9:13 AM
I think I would leave. I guess that's me, anything to avoid a confrontation. I wonder if I would feel so strongly about the importance of Individual freedom if I hadn't lived such an easy life.
By
Christine, at 1:12 PM
i think it would depend on my mood. a dark purple mohawk might be cool, and if they're forcing me to i might as well have fun with it. on the other hand, i really hate when people try to make me do anything, even silly things, even things i was going to do anyway before they started trying to make me. plus i hate being something on the outside that i'm not on the inside and try to be true to myself, so the brittany's music? it might be more of a stretch than the mohawk :)
so it would depend if the requirements were something not just wrong, but against my nature. like wearing pink. they could kill me before i'd wear pink.
By
the boogeyman's wife, at 7:19 PM
I'd rather move. But then, a green mohawk would be an improvement as far as my hair is concerned.
By
Carol, at 7:12 PM
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