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Comment by arjie | Hacker News Reader

> It happens that my children grew up in an environment in which most of their acquaintances are supportive of young people who pursue their own passions, and they haven't had to be ground into sameness to have peers who like them.

I'm truly astonished by the West that this sort of thing is worthy of remark. I studied all my life in India, both in government schools and in different private schools, and every kid who did something that was atypical was always cool for it.

You're the tennis star? Nice, everyone loves you. You're the guy who plays Golden Axe better than anyone else? Damn, nice. You top the math class or are good at building things? "Wow, I wish I were that smart".

I would never have suspected that in the land that ostensibly worships individuality, not being "ground into sameness" is worth mentioning.

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I would never have suspected that in the land that ostensibly worships individuality, not being "ground into sameness" is worth mentioning.

The UK has always seemed to have some respect for eccentricity but I wouldn't say they've been known as a place that "worships individuality." They have had a historical reputation for merciless bullying at the grade school level, though.

The person I'm replying to is American, and according to his profile is from Minnesota. Americans have a reputation for individualism.

Oh, my bad. Americans hold the rights of the individual paramount but tend to be conformist socially. You have the right to be different but nobody is going to make it easy for you.

Ah, I see. Thanks for that.

If by individuals you mean corporations (as in "corporations are people, my friend"), then yes I agree, those rights are held to be paramount. But if you mean individual as in "my body my right", then I would have to disagree, those are not strongly held rights.

The "right of corporations to speak" is just the right of people to speak when organized into a group. The ACLU is a corporation. A union is a corporation. The essence of that decision was that when a bunch of individuals (who all individually have the right to speak) get together in a group and set up some rules, they don't by virtue of that fact lose the right to speak. It doesn't mean "corporations are people" except in the sense that corporations consist of people.

(It's also worth noting that the vast majority of the recent nonsense over abortion has entirely to do with the last trimester. The fact that something is a "strongly held right" doesn't mean some people won't from time to time argue it should be modified or changed. That's just healthy political debate.)

American here. As a parent, I don't want my daughter to believe she's better than anyone else and, for the most part, I don't want others treating her differently than any other kid. It's because we value individuality and "forging your own path" that we protect their innocence at a young age; I don't want her doing something because I think it's a good idea.

People love talking themselves up, especially when it comes to,their kids. The fact is it is not even up to this guy, his kids could see their upbringing completely differently.

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