Humans are social creatures. It is clear from any study of sociology, history, or basically any other discipline regarding or involving the human race that humans have a tendency toward grouping up. With the idea of the group comes the opposing ideals of conformity and nonconformity. There are as many stances on the virtues of either side as there are people involved in the study. Some would tout conformity as an ideal; a staple of a stable, peaceful, efficient community. These people would say about conformity that it helps things run smoothly and avoids many of the pitfalls of disharmony. Those in support of this view are rather in tune with Plato's conception of the idea of unity as a necessity for the success of any group of people, and the lack thereof as a catalyst for their decline. Those Platonic scholars who disagree with the idea of conformity as a virtue seem to see in it echoes of the Thrasymican argument, as it seems to suggest that the majority of the citizens of the earth just has to deal with whatever the powerful throw at them. Colin Wilson seems to possess the latter view, but with a rather Machiavellian tint to his view when he says, "The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain." This quote is very telling in a few ways.
