1/ witnessing the stunning compliance of my fellow citizens to participate in absurd health theater has been the hardest part of the last few months for me...

2/ I’m indebted to @paulg, his excellent essay “the four quadrants of conformism” has allowed me to relax and accept and just be me... http://paulgraham.com/conformism.html 

3/ @paulg explains there are 4 types of people when it comes to conformism

4/ when @Paula described the “aggressively independent-minded,” I knew I’d found my place: “When they see a rule, their first impulse is to question it. Merely being told what to do makes them inclined to do the opposite.”

5/ as a kid, nothing drove me crazier than the peer who volunteered to be a bus monitor and wear the orange sash, gaining praise by narcing out his/her classmates....

6/ As @paulg explains, “it seems to me that aggressively conventional-minded people are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the trouble in the world”....couldn’t agree more!

7/ I have a VERY conventional background. White American male. Stanford grad. Started and ran a private equity fund....ranting about vaccines has NOT been a popular approach amongst many of my peers, it’s like a very loud fart at a fancy cocktail party...

8/ and yet, I can’t fight my nature. I see a screaming injustice and I have to speak up. Oh well, the good news is I can live with myself because I didn’t shut up when I was “encouraged” by the conventionally minded to tone it down a little. No thanks.

9/ this might be my favorite passage from @Paula ‘a essay:

10/ I tried this out on a VERY conventionally-minded friend. Wears a mask in his car. Asked him which side of slavery he’d be on. He gave the obvious answer and then I sent him this essay. His reply, “go f—- yourself.” Guessing he’s now a former friend. Oh well.

11/ @paulg ‘s essay allowed me to better understand how the Third Reich could happen, they shot all the people like me...

12/ So, where are you on this continuum? I’m guessing 95% of my followers are of the independent variety, and the other 5% are either curious to see how people like me think or waiting for me to post something they can exploit. And, do you think people can change? I’m not sure...

13/ but, I thank @Paulg for putting things so clearly, I’ll never shut up about what vaccines are doing to vulnerable kids, and when I say I would’ve been an abolitionist, I believe it, because I’ve taken the heat of a VERY unpopular position. HBU?

14/ and, do the joggers who wear masks identify as the conformists they are, or does everyone assert they are independent thinkers even when their choices and behavior suggests otherwise?