The Maladjusted Noconformist
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Transcript of The Maladjusted Noconformist
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The Maladjusted Non Conformist
By Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA
December 2011
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
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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
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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
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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”.
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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