more often than not, people seem to 'color outside the lines/think outside the box/go against the grain/etc' just to do it, as though merely being different is a virtue.

Said people are often so bullish in their outside-the-box-ness that they challenge conventional thinking just because it's conventional thinking.
Frankly, ost people who think they’re esoteric are really just people trying to stand out. Often enough, this is nothing more than overcompensating by people who never fit in to begin with. The best way to deal with rejection from the mainstream is to become the alternative, and absolutely everything about what you’re doing reflects that. Further, you presented a half baked idea if there ever was one.

Seriously, your entire premise can be summed up this way:

ISN’T IT CRAZY THAT A LOT OF SHIT COMES IN TWOS? I MEAN, COME ON, THINK ABOUT IT!