The Maladjusted Nonconformist

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description

This paper examines the motivation and philosophy of maladjustment nonconformism and examines the role dissidents play in modern society

Transcript of The Maladjusted Nonconformist

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The Maladjusted Non Conformist

By Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA

December 2011

[email protected]

http://about.me/ahmedsule

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“The saving of our world from pending doom will come,

not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming

majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a

nonconforming minority.”

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Maladjusted: badly or unsatisfactorily adjusted, especially

in relationship to one’s social circumstances, environment, etc.

~Entry from Urban Dictionary

Every society honors its living conformists, and its dead

nonconformists (trouble makers).

~Mignon McLaughlin

The year 2011 will be described in future as the year of

the maladjusted nonconformist (a term coined by Martin Luther

King). 2011 was the year in which a number of people who were

tired of the status quo demanded freedom, justice, democracy

and equality.

The flames of the protest fire, which started in Tunisia

in January 2011, gradually spread to the four corners of the

world, with new protest movements springing up on a monthly

basis throughout the year. In February 2011, Egyptian protesters

succeeded in removing Egypt’s President Mubarak from office.

In March 2011, there was an intensification of the protest against

Syria’s President Assad. The commencement of the Slutwalk

protest march in Toronto Canada in protest against the excusing

of rape against women began in April 2011. It was Spain’s turn

in May 2011 as protesters started the Los Indignados march to

protest against the deteriorating economic climate.

In September 2011, the Occupy Movement, which is a

movement protesting against economic inequality, corporate

greed and the influence of money in politics started in New York

and has since spread to over a thousand cities around the world.

The prevalence, intensity and focus of these protest movements

culminated in the Times Magazine naming ‘The Protester’ as its

2011 Person of the Year.

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I have decided to write this paper about the maladjusted

nonconformist for two reasons. First, since maladjusted

nonconformists are often misunderstood and disrespected, I

would like to highlight the role maladjusted nonconformists play

in society. Second, I am writing this paper to encourage people

to become maladjusted to the status quo whenever it threatens

justice, equality and freedom.

Who are the maladjusted nonconformists? What is the

philosophy/motivation of maladjustment nonconformism?

Why are they misunderstood and vilified? What are the myths

about the maladjusted nonconformists? What role do they play

in society?

The maladjusted nonconformist is a dissenter who

disagrees and challenges a well-established and accepted

political or social order, which though detrimental to the society

is accepted by the majority population. The maladjusted

nonconformists comprise of people across the gender, age and

religious divide. The overriding theme of maladjustment non-

conformism is to see a change in the status quo for the benefit of

society. Maladjusted nonconformists adopt a range of methods

to achieve their objectives including but not limited to marches,

art, writing, music, hunger strikes, petitions etc. For the purpose

of this paper, I am focusing on nonconformists that adopt non-

violent methods of challenging the status quo, as I believe that

peaceful means are the most effective way of bringing about

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meaningful change. The maladjusted nonconformists are

individuals who refuse to be adjusted to certain things, which

they perceive as unjust. Examples of themes, which they tackle

include issues like racism, economic inequality, repressive

political regimes, war, breach of civil and human rights, gender

inequality etc.

The job of a maladjusted nonconformist is a thankless

exercise, which is risky as it could result in the loss of a job or

career, imprisonment, beating, ridicule and at the very extreme -

death. Furthermore, the causes that the nonconformists fight for

are sometimes not achieved in their lifetime. For instance, the

causes that Malcolm X, Steve Biko and Martin Luther King fought

for were only fulfilled after their deaths. Despite the odds of not

succeeding in their struggles or the threats to their life, health or

career, the nonconformists still carry on their fight. Why?

Because behind every maladjusted nonconformist is

a cause that he or she strongly believes in. They visualise

a future that is better than the current order and this drives

them to resist the old order and make their voices heard. The

Occupy Movement protesters believe in a cause that will result

in economic justice and responsible government and this has

made them stand their ground irrespective of the risk of arrest,

pepper spray or cold from sleeping outside in winter; Sojourner

Truth believed in the cause of women rights and the abolition

of slavery; John Wesley, the Methodist founder believed in

the cause of getting the Gospel message preached to working

class people who at the time were frequently excluded from

entering churches.

The maladjusted nonconformist believes that in the long

run the cause that he or she fights for will prevail despite the

odds. Martin Luther King summed up this feeling when he said,

“when our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of

despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand

midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this

universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a

power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform

dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.” They are convinced that

even if justice is not achieved in their lifetime, it will be achieved

in the future and that the ongoing oppression will cease.

They have a good understanding of the concept of

status quo. While they recognize that the existing state of affairs

should not be opposed if it is working right, they know that very

often people and societies get adjusted to the state of affair and

complacency sets in when the status quo remains unchanged

for a long time. The static nature of the status quo eventually

leads to misalignment; however as maladjusted individuals,

nonconformists are more likely to identify these misalignments.

Upon identification, they effect the necessary protests to align the

misalignment and reset the status quo.

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The maladjusted nonconformists understand that the

oppressor will not grant the oppressed their demand without

a struggle on the part of the oppressed. They appreciate that

‘Pharaoh will not release the Moses led Israelites’ without a

demand and battle. Fredrick Douglas, the civil rights leader

caught it years ago when he said, “power concedes nothing

without a demand. It never did and it never will.” It is for this

reason that the maladjusted nonconformists are very persistent

and do not give up.

Despite the sincere intentions of the maladjusted

nonconformist, they are often vilified by government officials,

mainstream media, the elites and some sections of the

general public. Dissenters are frequently described as

scumbags, troublemakers, lazy, jobless, attention-seekers,

weird and communists. In other instances, they are beaten

up, arrested or even killed. John the Baptist had his head cut

off for rebuking King Herod for taking his brothers wife; Fela

Anikulapo Kuti, the Nigerian musician was arrested and beaten

several times for voicing his opposition to the military junta;

a number of Occupy Movement protesters have been pepper

sprayed, beaten and arrested.

The maladjusted nonconformist is often vilified by three

sets of people. The first group are those that benefit from the

existing order, which the dissenters are challenging. The second

group of vilifiers are those who are resistant to change. Although

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they may not benefit from the status quo, however, they view

those challenging the status quo negatively because they see the

challenge as a threat to their stability. The third set comprise of

those who adopt a Social Darwinism approach towards the status

quo. They believe that even if the status quo is unjust, only the

‘fittest ‘ will survive such environment. They regard nonconformist

who want to change the status quo as weak and lazy. These are

the people who will make remarks like “why are you resisting

income inequality or racism afterall, if you work hard then you will

not need to bother about these issues?”

A number of myths prevail regarding the maladjusted

nonconformists. They are described as troublemakers who

disturb the public peace. A critical examination of this myth would

reveal that maladjusted nonconformists are not disturbers of

public peace but instead are people who are working towards

bringing about a more sustainable peace via the demand for

justice. An examination of the winners of the Nobel Peace

prize reveals that a number of the winners were maladjusted

nonconformists who were once described as disturbers of peace.

Nobel peace laureates such as Albert Lutuli, Martin Luther King,

Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Liu Xiaobo

and Tawakel Karman were tagged as troublemakers by the

beneficiaries of the challenged status quo.

The maladjusted nonconformists are also described as

attention seekers, selfish and demagogues. This description

is unfair as dissenters are actually fighting for causes in which

they bear all the risk, while the reward for victory is enjoyed by

the society.

Many of the liberties we enjoy today are as a result of

the efforts of a number of individuals and organisations that

chose to challenge the status quo in order to make the world a

better place. These people who have stood up to say ‘enough is

enough’ might be the minority, but without their efforts, the world

we live in would have been a different place.

The pages of history are full of stories of men and women

from various fields of endeavour who chose to be maladjusted

nonconformist to the prevailing status quo of injustice, oppression

and discrimination.

In education we learn that Mary Tape, a Chinese

immigrant was a maladjusted nonconformist to the status quo of

educational segregation in America, “Is it a disgrace to be born

a Chinese? Didn’t God make us all?”; in boxing, we learn that

Mohammed Ali was a maladjusted nonconformist to the status

quo of the support of America’s war in Vietnam when segregation

prevailed in the USA, “No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help

murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the

domination of white slave masters over dark people the world

over.”; in religion, we learn that Martin Luther, the reformist was

a maladjusted nonconformist to the status quo of the abuses of

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the Catholic church, “I neither can nor will retract anything for it

cannot be right for a Christian to speak against his conscience.”;

in international diplomacy, we learn that Eleanor Roosevelt was

a maladjusted nonconformist to the status quo of war, “I can not

believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war,

and no one will win the next war.”; in music we learn that Fela

Anikulapo Kuti was a maladjusted nonconformist to the status

quo of military rule in Nigeria, “Zombie no go turn unless you

tell am to turn, Zombie no go think unless you tell am to think.”;

in athletics, we learn that Tommie Smith was a maladjusted

nonconformist to the status quo of racism, “If I win I am an

American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then

they would say ‘a Negro’. We are black and we are proud of

being black”.

In conclusion, since we are all beneficiaries to some of the

privileges in our world due to the risks taken by the maladjusted

nonconformists throughout the passage of time, we have a moral

responsibility to speak up when we see things in our world that

are not the way it should be, even if it is against popular opinion.

We also owe it to the unborn generation to ensure that they come

to a world in which they would not experience the injustice that

this present generation faces. Although we should be adjusted

conformists to the troika of equity, peace and justice, however,

we should be maladjusted nonconformists to the troika of

injustice, oppression and inequality.

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Selah.

Ahmed Sule

December 2011

Below is a link to a documentary I have prepared as a

tribute to the maladjusted non-conformist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_fPGj71Qas

© Ahmed Sule 2011

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© Ahmed Sule 2011