Social Norms And Righteousness

On the Internet, I have seen opinions such as that you need to follow the social norms in order to be a good person; that refusing to follow them is narcissism or sociopathy; and that society is hated by the arrogant.

It is time that these opinions be seen for the lies that they are.

Say you are in Afghanistan, and the social norms tell you that you should throw sulfuric acid into the face of a little girl for going to school. Are you going to be a good person for following such a norm? Or will you be a good person for fighting it?

Different societies are hated for different reasons and by different people. If you do not hate a society that thinks it justifiable to throw sulfuric acid into the face of a child, then something is wrong with you. I am sure that the people who want to maintain these ways would see those confronting them as arrogant. But it is the duty of honor and righteousness to fight such ways.

Now there is not much to recommend rebelling for the sake of rebelling, as is common among teenagers. But there is very much such a thing as righteously rebelling against ways that are wrong. In some cases, you are a good person if you oppose, not maintain, social norms. That is because, like anything human, social norms can be good, bad, neutral or a mix. And the duty of intelligence is to see which of these norms are right and which of these norms are wrong and uphold the former while fighting the latter.

So no, you are not made a sociopath or a narcissist for opposing some social norms, nor are you arrogant to abhor wrongdoing. Not all social norms are bad, but many are. And it becomes incumbent upon righteous people to support the good ones and fight the bad ones.