Be Different

“Be Different” This is the new age dream. We take tutorials for it, watch TV programs, whose characters we can copy for it. Every other clothes/shoe/lifestyle commercial is featured around a variation of this theme.
There was a quotation I saw someday, somewhere that said – “These days, what’s so different about being different anyway?” Who says we never think twice about quotations?? I haven’t stopped thinking about this one for two years now…
I keep torturing myself – “Ok so maybe I’m different. But what’s different about that? EVERYONE is being different…It’s the same thing. But then, it would have been called ‘Being Alike’…Why is it called ‘Being Different’? What’s the difference anyway?”
It’s the ideal way to amuse oneself during a busy day. You are pondering a deeper question, not wasting time (Heaven Forbid!!) You are a sincere workaholic who actually cares about this issue J
I mean, think about it. Previously we were told to buy a brand of chocolate because it was the BEST in the market. Now we are told to buy it because its “Different”…Just WHO asked for a “different” chocolate?
The worst part is there will be a whole bunch of people trying it out for this very reason. It builds mystery and curiosity…It’s like an Arabian Nights chocolate…Filled with grapes and snakes and semi-naked ladies. Forget that it tastes exactly the same, only squishier. The mirage of difference has been painted. The marketing concept is made!
And so, our markets are shifting slowly from quality to difference…Biscuits called “cookies” are more expensive, because the name is different!
The point is, very few are actually being any different. We have the same boring jobs, the same pressures in school, work, family…The same problems, the same clothes, hairstyles, attitudes (Or the same lack of it). In short, we are almost exactly the same as countless people who have and will, live and die on this earth.
Then why the “Difference” mania suddenly? Why are corny marketing concepts working?

I think it’s because our egos are slowly enlarging. No one really notices their egos very much unless some fool tries to overtake them on a highway. Then the ego becomes a SUPEREGO that changes in a phone booth “What’s that? It’s a bird! It’s a plane! NO ITS SUPEREGO!” Flying in the air and overtaking the jackass who started it first!
The growing ego demands an identity, a presence, a fan following, a “different” (read more expensive) life. We all want to be remembered in posterity for our choice of shampoo. (remember employee no. 2716325, who died? He was “different”..)
It puzzles me. Here I am, this amazingly talented accomplished human being; Unique, brilliant, lovable, witty, charming, yet I have no fan clubs and websites following my daily activities? Weird! I KNOW! I’ll become “different”! I’ll buy the “different” toilet cleaner! THEN they’ll all love me and worship at my shrine. HEY! When the ad says this, you believe it…Should I add some semi-naked ladies to convince you? Huh? Huh?
The average ego size swells and subsides 23 times a day for an average male and 20 times for an average female (Needless to say, we’re fighting for women’s equality so that we can have 23 a day too)…This is normal and controllable. What is dangerous is the slow overall growth of the ego. It is threatening to take over the world and is responsible for global warming. All the ecologists are kidding us with the greenhouse theory. Everyone secretly knows it is because humans are getting hotter and hotter for smaller and smaller reasons until the global temperatures register a change that even the seas cannot cool.
The question is, how do we battle this ecological threat? Killing all marketing managers in a worldwide revolution is, of course, the obvious solution, but unfortunately, they have legal representation. And FORGET about killing all the lawyers. They will survive nuclear wipeouts and still make more money than you, even if you sold bomb shelters.
So, from purely altruistic motives (that I am going to copyright before you have finished reading this line), I have come up with a solution – Hold your breath – Start a new revolution. We’ll call it the “Be Alike” revolution. The pressure on the ego will be slowly eased, and all the hot air can escape safely and harmlessly… We will all be socially acceptable only if we look the same, dress the same and be the same. Sell this concept and NOW finally, people will HAVE to be different, because we forbade them. We can only hope…