To Conform and To Perform

Freedom is a lie.

Photo by cottonbro studio

Do you feel the pressure?

(Of course, you do.)

Pressure
Pushing down on me
Pushing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

— Queen & David Bowie

What I’m talking about, of course, is the pressure. The pressure to:

1. Conform

2. Perform

I feel the pressure all the time.

Conforming

We’ve discussed status quo ideology and liberal-conservative supremacy at much length here on Beneath the Pavement. Basically, all diverging viewpoints, morals, opinions, even facts are disregarded, made ridiculous, and/or radical under the guiding banner of the ruling belief system.

Not having an opinion — “being apolitical” — is perfectly fine, even encouraged, for it strengthens existing hierarchies. Apathy is a great feature. It makes it all so much easier. Having a diverging opinion on the other hand is a gateway to being marginalized, lectured, and, if push comes to shove, punished and incarcerated. See recent attempts to ban pro-Palestine protests, flags, and so on in many parts of Western Europe, particularly ultra-liberal, ultra-propagandized Germany. See also attempts at criminalizing legitimate forms of climate activism.

As a neurodivergent, often far-Left person I find system-conforming particularly dreadful and difficult. Still, I’m “lucky” that I’m not, for example, trans and living in the US. I’m even more lucky to not be gay or atheist in many non-Western countries of this earth. See, it’s not a uniquely Western phenomenon, of course — Western ideology is just particularly misleading in its claim of complete acceptance and pro-diversity. Try being Syrian or Afghan in Europe right now and see how those claims hold up in practice.

Conforming thereby happens along the following dimensions:

• Politically

  • Representative parliamentarism as the highest form of “democracy”

  • The dictatorship of the majority

  • Political parties not ideologically and morally/philosophically compliant are excluded

• Ideologically

  • “Free market” capitalism

  • State intervention on behalf of capitalism

  • Occasional concessions to the working class to prevent revolutionary sentiment from spreading

• Morally and philosophically

  • Hierarchy as the leading doctrine (while “democracy” is claimed on a state-governance level, in practice all of us spend a huge part of our lives in the workplace, where strict hierarchies and obedience are observed)

  • Freedom is sacrificed for order and the protection of property

  • Occasional concessions to civil liberty to prevent revolutionary sentiment from spreading

All this conforming happens in quite explicit ways (school, university, workplace training), but also in more implicit ones (media propaganda, think tanks, politics, discrimination).

Performing

Arguably even more sinister than conforming is the pressure to perform. Whereas conforming negatively impacts only those who diverge from a supposed ideal, performing, to a degree, impacts us all.

It's the terror of knowing what this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming
"Let me out"
Tomorrow, gets me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Even those who do very well in our status quo system are impacted by the constant burden of having to perform, put on a show, day in and day out. Perhaps the project manager, the lawyer, the board member, the senior developer, the director, the hedge fund lackey would rather paint and make art. Yet they can’t because they are valued only for the capital they can turn over, make more of, earn.

Still, performing, naturally, impacts those on the lower ranks of the ladder disproportionally more, particularly those who fail even to conform. The relationship between the two — conforming and performing — is a synergetic one. Those able to conform — be it by nature or by force, find it much, much easier to subsequently perform. Ticking both boxes will earn you the currency of respect under capitalism, i.e. capital, the sole determinant for “being useful.”

We got to be careful with the concept of “being useful” in this context, of course, for it doesn’t necessarily correlate with “doing useful things for society.” Most politicians or the often cited hedge fund managers, for example, do arguably nothing useful for society as a whole or anyone really but are deemed “useful” in the system of capitalism, for they either turn over and direct capital, or accumulate and increase it, or both. Hence why lobbyists, the lowest of the lowest when we think of utility in the true sense of the word, earn more than any teacher, nurse, or cleaning woman ever will.

Judgment

There exist three possible combinations:

• Group 1: You conform and perform.

You’re good. You’re “useful.” This is not meant in a judgmental way. There is nothing wrong with fitting in and doing what is expected of you. It’s the best and easiest way to spend your life. It’s just worth pointing out that not everyone is able to do this, for whatever reasons, by no fault of their own.

• Group 2: You can neither conform nor perform.

This will make you an outsider to the world, a marginalized person, in the worst case a criminal for committing the crime of being an outsider. The infamous anti-vagrancy laws are a perfect example of society going after individuals who did no explicit harm to any one person, hurt no one, stole nothing, who merely refuse to (or literally can’t) surrender to the status quo. If you leave civilization as a whole to “live off the woods” or some such, you will quickly find yourself imprisoned or worse.

• Group 3: You either conform but don’t perform, or perform but don’t conform.

Congratulations, you’re part of a steadily increasing subset of the population! Many (if not most?) people nowadays, particularly younger generations, know and feel how wrong the system is, but are forced to, and hence do, perform while rebelling “in thought.” Another large part does not care ideologically, morally, or politically (therefore they conform) but cannot perform due to disabilities, be they physical or psychological ones (depression, anxiety, ADHD are particularly noteworthy examples).

Conclusion

Life ain’t easy.

Insanity laughs, under pressure we're breaking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love?
Give love, give love, give love, give love?

'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to
Care for the people on the
Edge of the night (people on streets)
And love dares you
To change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves

Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Antonio

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