'As mad as I am but no madder' or why J.S Mill would like my new hat

There's a Fry and Laurie sketch where a man goes to the doctor because he's a little bit mad. Not very much, just a tad. His only eccentricity is putting toast in his shoe.

'I'm as mad as I am but no madder' he declares.

I am boring. In fact i'd go as far as saying I'm balanced and rational. However I have just got new hat which gives me a tiny flicker of eccentricity.

OK so it's the equivalent of the accountant who wears a Homer Simpson tie but it's a start.

TRILBY

J.S Mill would approve.

He thought conformity curtailed our freedom as much as any laws. It was tyranny. A culture is stultified and constrained by everyone just fitting in and not rocking the boat.

Because of this tyranny he finds a genuine good in being different. In being eccentric, within the limits of not harming others.

The person who is different might be right. They might create life enhancing art or make a discovery.

Progress in society depends (amongst other things) on me wearing a Trilby in public.