THE AGE OF CONFORMITY
(To be sung to the tune of “The Age of Aquarius”)
When everyone starts “working out”
And SUVs replace all cars,
Then Facebook will rule the planet
And Starbucks will steer the stars.
This is the dawning of the Age of Conformity,
Age of Conformity,
Conformity,
CONFORMITY!
Marathons and low-carb diets,
Texts and tweets and blogs abounding,
Super Bowl and “Game Day” parties,
Patriotic orthodoxy,
Working space that’s kinda boxy,
From Tacoma to Biloxi,
Conformity,
CONFORMITY!
(Painting by George Tooker)
Conformity is the prerequisite submission demanded of a system. We are covered in systems; religious, political, financial, social… Conformity is not optional, it is compulsory. Resistance, failure to submit, and rebellion are easily amended: you are out. Our salvation from conformity is the deus ex machina.
Rising behind the stage upon which the scene of our hopeless captivity confounds us, will in due course, ascend the false salvation of a “New Deal”, the printing of more currency, a “better” church, or the marketing of a better social networking app. Once we get over the illusion that there is any real salvation in them, and if there is any humor and sympathy left in us, they will make us LOL. We will laugh, and thus we will be saved.
Al’s Axiom #37: “I laugh, therefore I am saved”
Thank you, Al. And a hearty “Amen.”