Bill Riddell

Outsiders and Tall Poppies

I am in the process of writing about a character who is somewhat of an outsider – someone who largely does not follow social conventions, the way we are expected to live our life.

It is fascinating to look at people and charecters who inhabit the fringes and extremes of socitey and the reactions they recive from others.

I would like to share three brief case studies of such people with you today, they have fascinated me and Im sure will capture your imagination as well.

While writing I couldn’t help but think of two outsider figures that I have enjoyed reading about and also reflecting upon what is largelly an Australian social phenomenon know as ‘tall poppy syndrome’ where we seek to criticise and topple the popular and succsesfull particuarlly after cheering their rise to the top.

The Stranger

The first is from Albert Camus “The Stranger” (also titled The Outsider), a character who quite unknowingly flouts a lot of societies unwritten rules and is ultimately sentenced to death because he holds true to his right to do so, expresses no remorse and fails to turns to god to repent, which could have set him free.

He lives completely in the present moment, with no thought of consequences or regrets. He experiences little emotion and lives a somewhat hedonistic lifestyle, living almost exclusively for his own pleasure.

Camus brief but brilliant work is one of my favourite novels, I have read it every year or two since my final year of high school. Each time I put myself in the position of Mersault, the main character, and question wether I would give up everything I believe in to escape the death penalty and I each time, after much deliberation I cant help but say no. Its a powerful novel.

Pausanias

The other that springs to mind is a historical figure, the Spartan leader Pausanias who I first read about in Robert Greene’s superb book The 48 Laws of Power. A Spartan general, Pausanias led the Greeks in claiming Persian land but was accused of adopting their life of luxury and pleasure over the Spartan way of discipline and simplicity.

Thucydides, an ancient Greek historian wrote of him: “By his contempt for the laws and his imitation of foreign way he made himself very widely suspected of being unwilling to abide by normal standards.”

Adopting foreign ways is perceived as superiority and contempt for tradition. The solution Green presents after explaining how and why Pausanias was killed for his superior way is ‘Law 38 – Think as you like, but behave like others’.

“Many of us, like Pausanias, feel the siren call of the exotic, the foreign. Measure and moderate this desire. Flaunting your pleasure in alien ways of thinking and acting will reveal a different motive – to demonstrate your superiority over your fellows.” says Green.

The Tall Poppies

Tall Poppy Syndrome, it is where an ordinary person, an underdog (particularly in the sporting world), who we can all relate to is propelled to stardom by the nations support and interest only to be damned as they achieve fame and success, becoming an outsider.

The whole nation seemingly gets behind our upcoming sports stars, we adore them and cheer for them fervently.

As the underdog they are just like you and me, they drive a bad car, work hard to achieve their dream and seem honest and polite, maybe even a bit shy as they are unaccustomed to the limelight. They are just like you and me, we like that.

However, as we cheer them on their fortune improves. They make more money, trade in that old Toyota for a Ferrari and their confidence soars to levels that seem like arrogance.

Once we build these stars up we try to pull the rug out from underneath them, helping the poppies grown only to cut them down once they bloom. We criticise their greed and arrogance, we expect them to behave perfectly and damn them if they fail to meet those expectations that few of us could meet.