Tacit Codes: Fitting In

Everyone has a natural desire to fit in. Everyone has a natural desire to be accepted by others. These desires are strong enough to cause individuals to give up there uniqueness. We are all told at a young age that everyone is different and that is wonderful. However, societal norms contradict this idea. In order to fit in, you must conform to what society considers normal. When Micheal Ignatieff, Professor of the Practice of Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, made the observation that, “To belong is to understand the tacit codes of the people you live with”, Ignatieff was simply putting into words the natural obligation everyone feels when it comes to fitting in and following the rules society places on people without discussion. This

I agree because I have seen people follow these tacit codes in multiple instances in history and popular culture. In AP U.S. History, our class has spent a considerable amount of time on the study of Native Americans and how people reacted to their culture. As a result of my study, I have come to the conclusion that Native Americans did not follow the tacit codes of America. When the Europeans tried to push their culture onto the Native Americans, the natives did not oblige. In fact, the natives refused to conform to the Europeans and their tacit codes. As a result, the Native Americans were exiled and forced to move West. The natives are an example of the consequences of not conforming to society and not following the tacit codes. People fear being lonely. They simply change to the image society suggests is normal in order to avoid being lonely. They follow the unspoken rules in hopes they will fit in and not be considered weird. The Native Americans were not afraid of being weird. They did not change and suffered the Europeans consequences because of this. Although there are plenty of real life examples, there are multiple examples of implementing the idea of following tacit codes

In a perfect society that would be true. However, there is a lot of pressure to fit in and have a numerous amount of friends. In order to do this, sometimes people change the way the dress, talk, and act to match the tacit codes of their friends. I believe that uniqueness is a great quality but that is not to say that people aren 't willing to give up this quality of being unique in order to gain popularity. For example, in the movie “Mean Girls” when Katy is first introduced to the popular girls at the school she is told that on Wednesday she must wear pink in order to sit at their table. In Katy’s school wearing pink on a certain day is one of the tacit codes she must follow in order to belong. In doing so, she is giving up her unique style and conforming to what the other girls are wearing. She does this to calm her natural urge that pushes her to fit in. Katy is one of the many people out in the world that has willingly followed meaningless tacit codes instead of being unique. For a real life example, someone could consider immigrants. Last year I read a memoir, Funny in Farsi, and the author was an immigrant from Iran. She argues that it was extremely difficult to fit into the United States without out identifying the tacit codes and following them. I agree with her statement