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If you're lucky, you've met a person like this -- someone so confident in themselves that they are impervious to peer pressure which, today, includes public shaming by mainstream media, politicians, medicos, "experts," and the many, many trolls -- and their human acolytes -- on social media.
The strong person's confidence isn't the false substitute propounded by business and leadership seminars. You know what I mean -- the pep talks that encourage us to act like we know what we're doing when we don't, to project a pseudo-competence in place of real knowledge, skill, and ability. Anyone who has worked under an insecure middle manager knows what this looks like.
No, the person confident in themselves is one who questions everything, especially authority, and does not accept "facts" simply because they are streamed on a screen by someone wearing a tailored suit or a white lab coat. The confident person knows that he or she has been given an intellect and is expected to use it, and he or she is wary when there is pressure to accept a universal theory encompassing one dogma, one belief, one way of looking at things, one acceptable means of behaving. They are especially wary when people are attacked for thinking differently. Their inner cynic tells them that this is not good.
These people stand out, because they don't fit in. If you're lucky, you know someone like this. If you're truly looking for truth, you'll strive to BE someone like this.
