S+F!! Very well said OP. On the Meyers Briggs we are Introverts. Which doesn't necessarily refer to one's avoidance of social situations, but how they we perceive and experience their world. We're observers, processing and internalizing. But Introversion is only one aspect of it. We are thinkers and problem solvers, some guided by hard facts, others by gut and intuition. Were all different, even with other "eccentrics," and as soon as you start embracing that uniqueness, you'll start reaching your true potential. I wear it like t-shirt and everyone here should. It took me years to get to this point and I'll never be ashamed who I am.

P.S. -add ADD to that list b/c I couldn't get through all the pages before... SQUIRREL!!!

Originally posted by Phenomium
You have just described everyone on ATS except the skeptics. Skeptics are pretty much the lead orators for the voiceless, stupid sheep, that fall for every promise that politicians make and fall for the vernacular prowess of the likes of Obama, and while the politicians destroy the country, these same blind sheep seem to be disgusted as they never saw it coming....and then they go and vote for the next 3 disappointments that they are given to choose from. We who believe in the truth yet are mocked for thinking different from the tribes and tribes of idiot savant sheep.....are eccentric because the truth is about as easy to find as a golden unicorn.

The OP describes me by about 90%, but one could call me a skeptic. I am very open minded, but very skeptical of things I hear/read/see on youtube. Open-minded does not mean believing everything you hear, but realizing that anything is a possibility.

I see this reply to the OP as totally nonsensical. How would being skeptical make one more susceptible to being lied to or manipulated? I say the OP is about people who don't believe every Youtube video, discredited "researcher," or politician that comes along. It is about those who consider and re-consider many times in order to filter reality from BS. I could go on and on, but the really OP speaks for itself.

Originally posted by MikeDBZ
Individuals only have access to their own thoughts and mental states, these thoughts include ones described by OP. Yet it is these thoughts that are never communicated and the individuals keep these thoughts to themselves. The individuals then look at others and fail to see thoughts similar to his (because everyone keeps it to themselves, internally). They only sees "sheep" and "mindless slaves". This leads them to believe they are different, "not normal", and other things OP described.
Yet they never realizes that they are just like everyone else. And the fact that they keep their thoughts and beliefs to themselves makes them look no differently to others, than others to them. The end result is everyone believing they are unique and "not normal".

This makes amazingly perfect sense. Everyone is unique and still together, don't keep it to yourself. Truth and reality are openness and oneness. Judge not...

Man, if only people cared about the teachings of religion instead of it's ability to control....

Originally posted by UltraDOSEcious
Man, if only people cared about the teachings of religion instead of it's ability to control....

The only problem is the teachers. The best way to learn is just thinking, you get smarter constantly.

you sound more like a 50-something age and cultural demographic than an eccentric.

your sense of isolation is a byproduct of a soulless corporatized culture, with a touch of despair added in by the fact your culture hates you for being over 40 years old. you live in a very unique culture in that regard. as you got older and naturally became more individuated, your higher thinking patterns became bizarre in comparison to your dumbed-down video-game corporate media culture. you did not grow up to become a wise and respected shaman due to your culture.. instead you became a sad shadow, an eccentricity, discarded by your ugly culture for being a human-corporatized-cog spiritually beyond puberty, basically.

but me? ima excentric, because now im diffuse.

As far as not fitting in?... I have "NEVER" fit in, only been used for my talents, from a laborer to a technologists,R&D and Innovator/discoverer..

I've always been a path maker, not a follower...

This makes me incompatible with the current nanny state mentality based society we have today...

I currently am going to work for a company, that claims they want to expand, and innovate, that they want to allow innovation to come from an internal source, that they are looking for someone to unite the different departments together, to solve their issues, in other words a "problem solver"...

I do that kind of thing in my sleep, however that said.... I can tell you pretty much what will happen:

I'll either solve the problem and then be ousted, OR I will be meet a ton of ego's, many with self imposed values of being superior to anyone else, and I will meet head on, many obstacles, making it difficult, if not impossible to get anything done..

For instance... One machine I am to work and evaluate, is based upon Printing press technologies... Printing press technologies in a medical field?... Ummm right.... O.K... I'll give them that, I mean after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained right?...

Problem?, downtime is "waay" above what it should be, I mean so far above what one could consider profitable to the company, that one is left wondering who came up with this boondoggle of an idea.. it's like watching a sore get larger every damn time you touch it..

The problem?.. it's a bloody printing press!.. it's designed for dynamic alignments, in other words alignments made on the fly, because when you print with paper, you have to adjust at least four separate printing rollers, to hit the same mark, (no simple feat in any way possible), this is done because the rollers can adjust for horizontal plane shifts (side to side) and for synchronous speed fluctuations (back and forth), together they from a 2D flat plane of operations, and because paper is cheap, there is no problems with this constant adjustment mentality that is still used today...

The solution is simple, and at least 100+ years old in the movie/entertainment industries, and is mechanical, reliable, and dependable, but I see this as being a fight for nothing in the end, because if this certain device is the companies future?, then it's a very short life span if they think they can get that to produce 30 million components per month, when you can't even go a 1/4 of the way off the rolls before having to stop and verify sync up's...

I figure within 3 months the company will be laying off (if not sooner) but around here, work is hard to find (as it is across the country) and it's going to be another repeat of before, take advantage of experience, and not pay what the experience is worth, nor "truly" accept a new idea (realized of course).. hell this particular company even has a New 3D printer which is not even being utilized by the so called pedigreed engineers, much less being accessed by innovators...

Too much ego, not enough innovation and production..

Yep... I too, do not "fit in" never will apparently, because we would rather have a don't ask, don't tell policy of work ethics then actually questioning what is flawed, and accepting alternate concepts that will improve company profit margins, unless it comes for an overly exorbitant price tag for consultants...

I personally have technologies, that would change many aspects of life, and encryption methodologies (realized) that would make any system unbreakable. yet they will never be accepted, why?, because they "ARE" unbreakable, and innovations that actually work to the advantage of the consumer...

I learned the hard way, that the way this world works, is the advantages toward the few, at the cost of all others...

Sure you want to even give sh&*^ about this world and fitting in anymore?.. I could care less....

I've always painfully known that about myself. In the 'perpendicular to the flow of society' kind of way. Abnormal, even. My parents hate it, and I hate it.
I get frustrated when the fortunate non-outliers call themselves quirky or weird. They should feel lucky... they're obviously the kind of weird that other people like. If they have in-person friends at all, they're doing something right. If they managed to pass an interview more than once in their entire lives, they're just fine.
How I envy those who are simply "quirky"!

Congratulations, you just described at least 1/2 the planet and 90+% of the people on ATS. We all think we're very different than the next, truth be known, we're not. Try looking for the similarities and not the differences, you may find you're not so all alone in your thinking.

There's a fine line between character traits that are a liability and ones that are an asset. They're not all created equal, your milage may vary.