An anti-conformist is a pseudo-individual who thinks being "non-mainstream" or part of a "sub-culture" is automatically an individual.
Examples include some (but not all) members of many "social outcast" subcultures such as emos, goths, juggalos, bronies, btards, geeks, new atheists, metalheads, stoners, hipsters, Ron Paul fans, SJWs, even Scientologists.
Ironically anti-conformists are more conformist than the majority of "normal people", and are just as bigoted as the stereotypically "cool" or "
popular" cliques such as jocks, preps, cheerleaders, sorority girls, etc.
Try arguing that the Phantom Menace is better than the original Star Wars at a Sci-Fi convention, and you may be treated like a heretic in medieval Europe. Try telling a metalhead that you enjoy a few Lady Gaga songs and you'll get a similar result. Or ask a
hipster to try watching any movie which isn't "foreign, indie, arthouse", etc and he'll tell you it's crap without even watching it.
Some subcultures started out as something original, but nowadays are often a manufactured image people adopt for negative attention - like the
jock who buys his clothes at
Abercrombie and Fitch, a metalhead will buy his tattered jeans and black T-shirts at
Hot Topic yet still claim to be non-conformist.
In short they're essentially to normalcy what the Punisher (an anti-
hero) is to Superman (a
hero) - but an anti-hero is still a protagonist no matter how much it denies it.
South Park showed a
perfect example of anti-conformist mindset. While the "goth kids" prided themselves on being non-conformist, in reality they generalized and excluded anyone who didn'
t dress exactly the same as them or listen to the same
music as them, proving themselves to be some of the biggest conformists around.
A true individual on the other hand has a wide variety of interests - he may enjoy both heavy metal and pop
music at the same time, or might enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons while still enjoying sports - the difference is that he chooses his interests out of genuine interest rather than just trying to affect a certain image, and is typically a lot more tolerant toward people with different tastes rather than expecting everyone to be a carbon copy of himself.
