Are you popular, quirky or conformist?

    Am I popular, quirky, or conformist? These are the sort of questions that terrorize our modern society. To answer this specific question requires intense introspection and a deep investigation into the very definitions of the words up to discussion.

    Beginning with the first category set out by the question, popular, it is useful to establish what this category actually entails. A quick google search reveals that the definition from Oxford Languages is “liked, admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a particular person or group”. Now, in this investigation we must ask deep questions. Sure, the definition may seem clear and obvious, but what does it actually mean to be liked, admired or enjoyed? “Liking” something could mean a lot of things, does merely having a happy experience with something constitute “liking”? For the sake of this essay I shall use a definition which I have come up with in my own infinite wisdom. My definition is that liking something is when someone spends any substantial amount of time looking forward to some sort of experience with that “something”. After defining that word, we are hit with the second great conundrum of the definition, how many people need to “like” someone in order for them to be popular. Now, the definition does state a “particular person”, but I think we can all agree that 1 person liking someone is not enough qualification for being “popular”. At the same time, the number of people can range wildly, someone who is popular in school may have 10 likers, but a popular celebrity may have millions. Thus the amount of people I believe makes it popular is when that amount of people is greater than normal for the average expected member of that group to have. This creates the full definition for popular being “someone who a greater than normal amount of people spend a substantial amount of time looking forward to an experience with”.
Moving on to quirky, Oxford Languages says that quirky means “characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits”. I believe that we can all agree that the word characterized means something which is described by whatever word that follows it. However, we hit a snag on what “peculiar and unexpected traits” actually are. For example, would it be a peculiar trait for me to have an incredibly long arm? One might be inclined to say yes, however, if I was in the “people with incredibly long arms club” my incredibly long arm would not be considered a “peculiar or unexpected trait”. Because of this ambiguity, I will once again rely upon myself to bring order to the definition by supplementing in my own additions. I think a “peculiar and unexpected trait” is a feature of someone or something which does not fit the societal expectations for what form that feature is supposed to take. Compiling our definition,  quirky is “someone who is described by having a feature that does not fit the societal expectations for what form that feature should take”.

    Finally we arrive at the last group which the question demands that we define, that group is conformist. Looking at our final Oxford Languages definition we see that conformist is “(of a person or activity) conforming to accepted behavior or established practices; conventional”. Despite the recursion this definition makes total sense, and so I will not clarify any further.
There is one issue that this great question creates, while conformity and quirkiness are diametrically opposed, popularity does not actually disqualify someone from the other traits in the question. This ambiguity means that the question itself contains a fundamental flaw towards the ability to answer it. If someone who is both quirky and popular is asked this question they are subjected to the great injustice of attempting to weigh their various traits to fit one of the groups.

    Due to these issues, I will not be answering the question.

Comments

  1. WilliamDecember 1, 2023 at 7:57 PM

    How détournement of you, Dima. Despite the heavily ironic nature of this essay, you do a good job of actually picking apart its fallacies instead of just complaining about it. I feel changed. While this essay lacks a "personal-to-universal" shift that we have come to know and love, your casual yet informative tone does make up ground in the personal category. Perhaps you could have added a small amount at the end as to why the issues this question present matter to you personally, but that's just an idea. Nice post.

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  2. Grace ToDecember 7, 2023 at 7:36 AM

    I like the unique approach you took to your essay! I think you successfully managed to answer the prompt whilst not answering the prompt at the same time. I still think your definitions have a couple flaws - for example, how do we determine what the societal expectations are? I also think quirkiness not only applies to features but also personality traits. I think you could also add more personal aspects to the essay, possibly by including some more examples to help explain your ideas.

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  3. Priya HDecember 8, 2023 at 7:50 PM

    This was a fun essay! I like your ironic tone and the way you explore these different traits through both a dictionary definition and your personal take. It does feel a little ramble-y at times but also I feel like that works with the nature of your essay and adds to it rather than detracts. One thing you could benefit from is including a specific personal narrative; this essay is heavily reflection based and a story about your personal experience with one or more of these qualities would be nice to read. Great post!

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  4. Fallon McFarlandDecember 13, 2023 at 6:11 AM

    I love the analysis of the question in the essay! I think you could benefit from trying to fit yourself into these groups: what moments in your life or aspects of yourself match each of the definitions? I think you can come to a more universal conclusion about people not necessarily fitting into these categories as well, if you bring your own experience into it. Great job!

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