Long post GO!
Very interesting thoughts. I agree on many things you said there. In fact, I am convinced that the situation is even much worse. Not only are we robbed of our individuality, we are also programmed to respond in certain ways. Society teaches us many things and some of them are counterproductive. While everybody probably knows how there are the real important things in life, only a few actually do care about those things. The rest is just lost somewhere in the vacuum of society, living their mediocre lives.
Everybody has the potential to become great, but only few grasp it and actually do become great. Obviously accepting their condition and just going with the flow (changing unconsciously with society) is a lot easier than finding oneself and becoming the person one is supposed to be (initiating change manually and consciously). Society teaches us to stay mediocre and we will be rewarded. That is a lie. Take most romantic comedies to date (let's say during the last 20-30 years). What happens?
1. A mediocre guy with all his flaws meets a beautiful woman and falls in love. Somewhere during the movie he messes up big time because of his flaws. He ends up seeing his errors and apologizes. The woman accepts the apology and they live happily ever after. End.
You know what this is? Bullshit! This doesn't happen in real life! A beautiful woman will get rid of you if you mess up like this. This kind of movie shows you that you just have to stay as you are and everything good will happen to you. Don't work on yourself, don't become a better person. While it's true that you should accept and admit the mistakes you make, this is only one fragment of the whole picture. Without the rest where you have to work your ass off to never ever even want to make this kind of mistake again, it's pointless. A simple life lesson used to manipulate people into not ever applying that life lesson. This is basically the kind of movie that guys like.
2. A woman falls in love with a great guy. She messes up big time as well and she apologizes as well. He forgives her and they live happily ever after.
If you take a closer look at that guy, he actually isn't that great. In fact, most of the male second roles I have seen are almost soulless. They have no self, they have no individuality. They are just the generic prince charming which isn't even that charming. This is the kind of movie that women like. Why? Because of the emotions. They never even relate to the guy. The woman feeling all those emotions for the man is the whole point. The great guy doesn't matter, he's just the trigger for all those emotions. That's why women think that they want a wuss while they actually want a real man with a personality. Women are robbed of their own preferences and individuality.
All in all, society programs us not to be individuals, not to become who we are supposed to be, not to get to know ourselves as a person and an individual. And it's not one bad guy on top of everything. It's not a conspiracy by one man. No, it's the whole world that is like this. Everybody is part of it whether they want to or not or whether they realize it or not. Matrix is a really cool movie about this kind of thing. The whole "seeing the matrix" thing makes a lot of sense. Once you do break free from the patterns, you do start recognizing them. You see how people behave and you know exactly why they behave like that.
Today I was walking with a friend around city and at one point a guy with two girls passed by us. That one girl said something and I heard her voice. I already saw her face and hearing her voice put a complete picture of her personality together in front of my eyes. She was fairly pretty, kinda cute, had a good voice tone and nothing extraordinary regarding body language, except a slightly cold appearance. He clothes were normal, pushing a bit toward rock style.
That girl has a somewhat low self-esteem. She compensates it by pushing people away in order to feel strong. That makes her appear confident, sometimes even bitchy, even though she's actually a scared little girl (hence the good voice tonality). She is used to people doing things for her because she's pretty (cold body language). If one would take away her beauty, there would be nothing to build her confidence on and she would crumble. She is a bit disinterested in people because they don't usually like her for herself but only for her beauty. Ironically the thing that is the source of the little confidence she has, is also the source of her being so cold and insecure.
I have seen many girls like this, I've had interactions with girls like this, there not a single doubt in my mind how an interaction with her would go (obviously not the whole interaction but half of it, I can't see the future).
If you want to be an individual, you first have to get to know yourself. Be honest to yourself about what you want. Be honest to yourself about your own flaws and fears. Accept them and then change them. Understand who you are and then become better. When you become better, you will discover more about yourself. The more you understand yourself, the more you will be able to understand others. Once you have broken free of the patterns that keep you chained to mediocrity, you will see the matrix. You will be liberated and you will be who you are supposed to be. And if you project that self into the world, you will be glorious!
I found out some of these things just recently.