Originality and Individuality

Everybody is unique. (At the very least, on a genetic level, but let's be optimistic and assume that on a personal level they're unique as well.) Some people, however, seem to care more about their uniqueness than others. And then, of course, there are those who are content to be one of the crowd, the faceless, nameless collective.

I think, given my level of self-awareness, it's sufficiently fair to say that I'm a pretty unique individual. My sense of fashion isn't average, nor are my interests, my use of language, my posture, my personality, etc...

And maybe it's because of this degree of uniqueness that people always try to find similarities between me and other people they encounter. Which, in itself, is fair enough. Everybody relates everybody they know to other people they know in order to better archive a mental/social map of their friends.

But is it really necessary to make that remark to other people? I find that there's a thin line between "I think you would get along with another friend of mine because of ____" and "Wow. You remind me so much of this other person". The first is neutral; the second offends the individuality of the person.

For several years now, people have always been reporting to me these sightings of alleged lookalikes that they encounter on the street, or in school or wherever. It's even better when these sightings occur on facebook, and the lookalike ends up looking worse than you do. Then you start to wonder how your friends see you anyway.

I don't mind categorizing people [mentally], but I do take issue with trivializing people. There's a difference between saying "You're a science student, and therefore would likely have a better idea of what constitutes an allele" and "You're a science student, and therefore must suck at language".

So in future, if you find that I echo someone else in your life, or some fictional character, take care that your expression of this observation or yours stays at that level of observance instead of threatening the individuality of the person.

Garrgh.