Thursday 16 February 2012

Feature: Social Behaviour - Why do I want to bend the rules?


Things I shouldn't want to do (but totally do)




Social norms are so inhibiting, don't you think? Imagine how great it would be to nip to the shops in your pyjamas without raising a second glance, or answer your door in a full panda suit without frightening the postman - and those are just two of the more mundane possibilities a world without social restrictions would offer.




Gosh darn it, I want to run down the street in nothing but a cow-print onesie, singing 'Born Free' at the top of my lungs and feel GOOD about it! Who's to say I shouldn't?! Who made up these rules for polite society? Maybe some frivolity and silliness is just what the world needs right now. Wouldn't it make your day to see someone run past you with twenty helium balloons tied into their hair, a cat in their arms and a smile on their face? Maybe I'm a minority, but that sounds pretty fantastic to me.

There is such a wealth of mad and brilliant things one could do given this level of freedom. For instance, I've always wanted to boycott the traditional lecture seating pattern, and instead sit on the floor beside the lecturer (okay, so my biggest motivation for this is that I have the eyesight of a ninety-year-old woman, but I still think it'd be pretty nifty all the same). I want to walk into Build-A-Bear and not have to hold back how excited I am about making a teddy bear. I want to run around the Disney store grabbing things to show my boyfriend and not feel ashamed when a three-year-old points and laughs at me. And more than anything else, I WANT TO HAVE FUN IN THE SOFT PLAY CENTRE AT CODONA'S AGAIN!




I can't do these things. Or rather, I shouldn't. I shouldn't skip down Union Street, I shouldn't ask for a Big Whopper in McDonald's, I shouldn't push my face up against the glass of cake shops, and I certainly shouldn't pretend to be a fish in aquariums. But, to quote my favourite poet, "If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good."

So I challenge you, reader. Go and do something absolutely mad tomorrow. Make the general public question your sanity and enjoy every second of it! (And if you could film it so I can laugh at you too, that'd be great).






- Charlotte Peters

1 comments:

Baaahahahaha This made me smile.. well grin actually. :D Me and a school friend used to do things like this. We dressed up like something (vampires or smurfs for example) and walked round the estate we lived in. We made lots of people laugh. Ever heard of Improv Everywhere? If not, check them out on YouTube. They do the very things you're speaking about. Great article!

Kym x

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