My blind obedience frenemy is the most dangerous of all
Nobody’s more socially and morally corrupt than the conformist who practices blind obedience. And that includes politicians.
I’ve had more frenemies than I can count, but the blind conformist stands out more than any other. He’s not the firebrand, and he’s not the silent conformist who hides his opinions until the group consensus reveals itself. Once it does, he gets vocal. But the guy I’m talking about is the “go with the flow” type.
His mantra? “We’ve got to follow the law.”
Not “if the law is just,” or “if the law respects liberty.” Just—the man-made law. That’s the beginning and end of his moral calculus.
The mask-wearer and gift card jab-taker
You know the type. He was the guy who wore his mask in the grocery store long after it was clear that masks were a joke. All because the state said so.
He got the COVID jab. And no, he never researched it nor cared about his health. Instead, his employer dangled a financial incentive. It told me he looked at his body as nothing more than an HR checkbox.
That’s the “go with the flow” mindset: Personal responsibility outsourced to authority, morality reduced to compliance, and truth sacrificed for convenience.
The fantasy investor
This is the guy who, in his late 30s, lives in his parents’ basement and says, “I’ll buy a house when the market crashes.”
Never mind that markets don’t obey his wishful thinking or that housing costs have marched upward for decades while he waits for his “perfect” entry point. He clings to the belief that if he sits still long enough, the crowd will validate his patience.
He confuses paralysis for prudence. And in doing so, he guarantees he’ll always react to life instead of taking ownership of it.
The moral rubber band
But the most dangerous trait of the “go with the flow” conformist is how easily he bends his morals to whatever the herd accepts.
He’ll flirt with a married woman and justify it with, “Hey, it’s normal, everyone else is doing it.” The potential destruction of a family doesn’t enter the equation. Boundaries don’t exist when you crowd source your moral compass.
This is the slippery slope of conformity: When “everyone else” becomes the standard, then no atrocity is too far, and no injustice too much. History’s littered with the wreckage of people who “just went with the flow.”
He shaped my counterarguments
“Friends” like this are why my politics hardened the way they did.
When I saw him wear the mask out of obedience, I saw the cost of compliance. And when he said he’s (still) waiting for the mythical market crash, and I saw the paralysis of groupthink.
Same for when I watched him excuse predatory behavior because “everyone else does it.” It’s what happens when one abandons self-ownership for conformity.
It forced me to sharpen my stance that liberty isn’t a group project. Your conscience isn’t negotiable, and your body, choices, and property—they’re yours. The minute you outsource them to society, you’ve already lost.
The real danger
The firebrand is loud, the silent conformist is passive, but the “go with the flow” conformist is dangerous.
Why? Because he’s the enabler. The one who keeps the machinery of injustice humming, greased with apathy. He’s the reason the state implements the worst ideas and keeps them alive because “that’s just the way things are.”
And here’s the hard truth: If liberty dies, it won’t be at the firebrand revolutionary’s hands. It’ll die because millions of “go with the flow” conformists nodded along and said, “Well, we’ve got to follow.”
Unapologetic takeaway
Never “go with the flow.” The flow is what drowns civilizations. Stand on principle, and own yourself, or you’ll end up like him: A man who mistook obedience for virtue and conformity for freedom.
Now, meet someone who learns about what self-ownership truly means. A constantly-overshadowed and rejected girl named Yote Diamondback would’ve called herself a resigned conformist once upon a time.
But when she moved to an area where anarcho-capitalism and zero draconian laws thrived and let her take ownership of her life, an area with a complete moral compass, her outlook changed.
Who was Yote before this shift in mindset? Read the first three chapters of my young adult academy fantasy, The Arcane Prophecy, meet Yote, her situation, and what makes her worth rooting for.
