This tendency, this need to defy the crowd eventually seeped into my approach to thought. I began reading differently, doing differently, and eventually, thinking differently.

-Differently than whom? There are likely any number of people, even groups of people that were already thinking in accordance to your new ways. Also, I'd be willing to bet that those Bud Lite buddies of yours each have something unique or remarkable about the way they think too. It's been my observation in life that people surprise the shit out of me when I give them the chance to. It's hard to give them that chance if you immediately think that you are a select man and they are simply the serfs.

Emboldened by my new outlook, I began proselytizing. There were other, better ways to live, I told friends. People who have gone before us, brilliant people, have faced the same problems as we, and have crafted new approaches, full of promise and meaning- precisely the thing that everyone I knew was lacking.

No one wanted to hear it.

I'm not a christian but I've always loved the St. Francis of Assisi quote, "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." -Nobody likes a proselytizer. Let your actions/behaviors speak for themselves. Those Bud Lite buddies will eventually be curious about how it is you came unto your enlightenment.

The first time I read Crime and Punishment, I was ashamed at how readily I related to Raskolnikov’s notion of the superior man.

-As I recall, it didn't end up so well for Raskolnikov, less you call a cell in Siberia a "superior" situation.

For years, I condemned my own line of thinking on the reductionist view of Raskolnikov: if there were two types of people, then I was a member of the better crowd. I was different. I was superior.

A friend once said to me that there were certainly two types of people in the world: 1. People that think there are two types of people in the world and 2. People that know better.

I have a hard time with people that need to measure their worth against others. That is essentially what this way of looking at humanity is. It's an "us" and "them" thing that can get very scary, very fast.

This inevitably leads to a black-and-white view of the world. There is no nuance, because to introduce nuance would be to upset the balance of that fragile worldview, and thus their own identity.

Yep.

It just sounds like you're running with a crowd that doesn't gel with you. I have developed different friends throughout my life and I've found that the ones that continue to challenge me with conversation, humor, sport, music, art, etc are the ones that I stay the closest with.

Are we all special little snowflakes? Well, yeah I actually think we are.

edit: By the way, welcome to Hubski. I really enjoyed this read and the thoughts it inspired. Haven't thought of Crime and Punishment for some time and it also had me recalling some Plato/Socrates from WAAAY back. Thanks. Good post.