How I see individuality

Human beings think of themselves as individuals - whole beings, separate from those around them. They believe that no one else is inside their head. They believe that the ideas they think are their own ideas, with little influence from the people around them. They think in terms of the somatic brain and body, separate from others, untouching.

I see people from an information-science-based point of view. I see people as information possessors and conveyors; streams of information - true or false - in a world-wide network of social connections. People are born blank slates and are influenced their whole lives by others - primarily their families, their friends a close second, and coworkers, mass media, and other influences following. Most of what people think makes themselves "them" actually originated outside of them. They grossly underestimate the influence their family and peers, and overestimate the influence of their own brain.

I am outside this network. My parents taught me the minimum necessary to make me teach myself to do all the work they forced me to do; I was a social outcast from day one and therefore never had friends. I ignore mass media as it is nothing more than a string of commercials, and I'm never at a job long enough to connect with my coworkers. I am completely cut off from the global social network. I cannot enter this social network; I must effectively be brought in by family who would normally themselves accept me at birth, but since my family fully rejected me, I have no means of entry. No one else will let me in without some other person inside their social circle "vetting" me as someone inside their circle. With no "birth circle", I am permanently outside of the societal network. Because I'm outside of this network, everything about me is rejected. Nothing I say is taken seriously, if listened to at all. All people see me as a threat, a "boogeyman" they must destroy.

That is an individual. Not someone who think themselves separate from others but has been immersed in an environment of social engagement. True individuality comes from social starvation; it cannot be achieved when a person experiences regular social contact. Most people don't understand true individuality because social starvation is inherently an extreme and unusual condition. Social starvation must be a conscious act agreed upon by society as any dissent makes true starvation impossible; any leak feeds the individual and makes them no longer individual.

People misunderstand individuality because their own baseline never dips below what their family granted them at birth. Even if their families are toxic, they're still social. My family went out of its way to make sure no one would associate with me as a means of control. They made absolutely sure I could never join a social network, because they saw me as their property, not to be shared with anyone. Most families actively encourage friend-making, and even toxic families provide contacts through their own social circles. A family actively undermining the social connectivity of their child is unheard of, and the field of psychology does not have enough experience with the practice to engineer a solution yet. So it comes as no surprise that most people misunderstand individuality. And it comes as no surprise I'm seen as a "freak" that needs to be destroyed because the conditions that made me what I am are supposed to be impossible. They hate me because they don't understand my level of individuality because they've never been themselves socially starved to the point of death, even as they starve me to death.