Cliques Retard Growth

Cliques Retard Growth
By Kirsten Anderberg (http://www.kirstenanderberg.com)
Written Dec. 18, 2006

Back in the 1970’s as a homeless teen, I was on a Greyhound bus that stopped in Portland, Or. On the side of a building next to the bus depot, these words were painted on the side of a building, with letters that were 5 feet high each: “CLIQUES RETARD GROWTH.” I was so impressed with it that I even took a picture of it that I still have somewhere. I have remembered that line for decades, feeling it is so very true. Cliques *DO* retard growth, and that is what this article is about.

I have never liked mob mentality. I tend to veer away from it, whether it be in the form of “democracy” (mob rule with no protection for the minority) or trendy little cliques. In high school, petty cliques pervaded our every move. There were the cheerleaders and jocks, the lowriders (I am from Los Angeles), the surfers, the stoners, the drama/music geeks, et al. And I remember my discomfort with moving between these cliques.

Cliques act as though you are either with them or against them. Like GWBush. When I first came to high school, after skipping the 8th grade, I hung out with what seems now like the lowest common denominator. I was trying to be “cool,” while being a violin-playing, academic overachiever. I hung out with “stoners” until I could not stand the lack of intellectual stimulation therein. I remember feeling I needed to change cliques, which sounds funny, but we’ve all been through it. As I looked around, discontent with stoner friends, I remember shopping around for cliques. I come from a performing family, and played violin in the school orchestra and had vocal solos in all the school musicals, but honestly, the drama geek thing never jived with me. The drama/music folks were more creative and intellectually stimulating than the “stoners” but they were a little too nerdy for my comfort levels. I did bond with some folks in the drama/music dept., but on the whole, those really were not “my” people.

I finally did find “my people” in high school and those folks remain close friends to date, 30 years later. But even though I found a group of smart, freethinking friends I became close with, by my junior year, I somehow branched out more socially, and went through some strange allegiance issues. “My people” were primarily the leftist politics and alternative culture folks, but somehow I became friends with cheerleaders and jocks. Close friends. And my alternative culture friends got pretty pissy, even mean, when I began hanging out with cheerleaders. I’d say this is when I began to see *how* cliques retard growth.

I did not succumb to the peer pressures of cliques in high school. I hung out with drama geeks, cheerleaders, academic overachievers, and stoners and was high school sweethearts with one of the only black students present at our school. I am glad I did not let clique mentality constrict my experiences in my youth.

“When you get to be our age, you all of a sudden realize you are being ruled by people you went to high school with. You all of a sudden catch on that life is nothing BUT high school. You make a fool of yourself in high school, then go to college to learn how you should have acted in high school, then you get into real life and that turns out to be high school again – class officers, cheerleaders, and all.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

In my adult life, I see the macrocosm of the high school clique microcosm. I see people huddled in cliques, cliques that require gang-like allegiance and cliques that create oppressive environments for their own members. Cliques of fashion, cliques of trends, cliques of money, cliques of friends...Cliques retard growth and cliques have been shown to be a destructive force on everything from anarchy to feminism, hippie culture, and even special interest groups like Green Cross. I am not sure what creates clique mentality, but I do know it has undermined solidarity within the anarchy, prisoner rights, and environmental defense communities, as well as other activist circles.

Hippies get mad at my anarchist tendencies. Anarchists get angry at my feminist leanings. The feminists are angered by my class politics...I learned long ago that you cannot please everyone and that one clique is too restrictive for my character. And it appears the alternative to clique mentality is individualism. I would prefer to be an independent agent, moving freely where my interests lead me, than to restrict myself to one prescribed clique and its agenda. And I have yet to find one clique that encompasses all of my beliefs, interests, and goals.

I saw an Oprah show recently about women “coming into their own.” The show talked about getting to a point in your life where you can trust *yourself.* I’d almost argue that confidence in your own intuition is the antidote to cliques. I see cliques as being far more destructive than constructive. So, what cliques are you part of and why? Does your clique restrict you in any way for membership? What is your positionality in your clique? What is your clique’s hierarchy structure? What do you sacrifice for your clique? What would happen if you quit clique mentality and stood on your own two feet, following your own drummer? How would your life change? The freedom to think for yourself is priceless. Not having to wait for clique approval is invaluable. Trusting yourself is a genuine freedom. Cliques Retard Growth.