Remain a Stranger

Explanation:
When you are part of a group of people, the values of that group begin to define you. Stay long enough, and you loose yourself and become someone else.
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Most people throughout history have been wrong about most things. Most people are immoral (Stanford Prison, Asch Conformity, Milgram Authority). If you aim to be a good person and a wise person (the first is harder), you cannot be like other people.
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Do not imitate others unthinkingly. Do not try to fit in unless the consequences of doing otherwise are dire. Instead, do what is right. If others believe something, ask yourself if it is really worth believing. If [tradition/Social Norms] dictate a certain way of behaving, question whether that tradition is justified.

The problem is that many of the mechanisms through which your social surroundings influence you are unconscious and difficult to consciously defeat. Conformity is safety and evolution has ensured conformity is the norm. How do you deal with this? I'm not sure.

How:

• Consciously choose to see yourself as a stranger.
• [Throw away/Be wary of] all aspects of your identity that are not of your own making.
• Any group affiliation is cancerous. You may aid a group if  doing so is wise. You must never make yourself part of one.
• Ascribe to an alternate, fictional identity.
• You naturally begin to identify with the [people/culture] around you. Having another identity in place can slow the contamination.
• i.e: identify with a non-existent nation/group.
• i.e: Identify with a dead religion
• i.e: Identify with a group of your own making
• Imagine that you are a traveler from the far future merely visiting a particular culture.

Reasons I'm being stupid

• Group identities are mostly good, valuing hard work and morality. Belonging to one is likely to make you a better person, not a worse one.
• People are idiots. Idiots who make their own identities make stupid, hateful ones.