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Submitted by lovepath7 on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 2:27pm
We live in a society wherein an individual's wellness and value are determined primarily by how well they fit in, how well they play the part of a functioning part in a machine. When and if this system does happen to consider what may be the intrinsic value of a person, it is determined by using conformity as a standard. Thusly, the last thing that is considered is what the quality of the system itself might be that an individual is being encouraged, in fact pressed, to fit into. This conformity drive and extreme resistence to question existing paradigms, systems and conceptual bases characterizes the period of adolescence rather than adulthood. Further, our society's persistent focus on materiality, celebrity and the public fleecing of other's as forms of entertainment indicate that as a people we are operating well below the level of rationality, which depite its cold reputation, is the stage at which an individual first becomes able to take the place, or understand the perspective of another, i.e. empathy. We also have a mental health regime, which while successful in advancing our understanding of genuine psychopathology, also has encouraged, through the mechanism of corporate and commercial motivation exemplified by the pharmaceutical industry, the perpetuation and creation of disorders which pathologize nearly any behavior which falls outside of the conformist norm.