Awakening Devils

Awakening Devils, or the Education of a Deviant




“Ultimately a hero is a man who would argue with the gods, and so awakens devils to contest his vision.” “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
These are the words of two of the most notorious deviants in American history. “Deviant,” you ask? Perverted, against the moral grain, abnormal, non-conformist. These are some of the words and phrases that have been used to describe the authors of the words you have just read. So why were these individuals singled out as being deviants?
“…social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders.” (Howard Becker 1963) This is a very good explanation of the way in which progressive thinkers are commonly classified. Neither of our examples says anything that was not thought of before, they only wrote or said what large groups of people were already thinking.
In case you have not guessed the identity of our two deviants they are Norman Mailer, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If you closed your eyes and thought of all the words which have become synonymous with the names of these two men would the word deviant cross your mind? Probably not, but it was used by people who saw these men as being culturally deviated.
By giving his opinion of the Vietnam War Mailer used his ability to express his thoughts about common social concerns in the written form. King was of course an extraordinary orator, drawing hundreds if not thousands to him just to hear him say what they as a group had been saying for many years. Some other notable deviants are Socrates, Columbus, Bob Marley and more recently former Surgeon General M. Jocelyn Elders.
Deviants, or people who do not conform to the popular thought of their time are often accused of some sort of deviance by those who are afraid of them for various reasons. Many people were afraid of King because he threatened to change an entire nations social structure by simply convincing people that it could be done. Socrates asked questions and conversed openly about controversial issues (Which he was put to death for!) in an age when this was simply not done. Columbus was a Heretic because his thoughts were contrary to the ruling religious group of his time. Bob Marley sang about social problems in his small corner of the world and unknowingly delivered a worldwide message that put such pressure on the two rival political groups causing the problem that they tried to kill his entire family. Albert Einstein, enough said. Dr. Elders was wise enough to address a nations problems and strong enough to give her opinion of a reasonable answer to those problems, for which she was ultimately removed from office.
What is learned from these deviants is that the rules of society and the labels imposed by the makers of those rules are not always a competent standard for all to follow. Erich Goode states; “…powerful groups are able to impose their will on the rest of the society and make sure that laws and rules favorable to themselves, and possibly detrimental to other, less powerful groups, are instituted.”
It is people such as those we have mentioned and many more who were able to change history by being able to use their voices when everyone else was choked up with fear. Hopefully the future brings with it people who are able to see through the dense smoke of ignorance and change the wrongs in the society in which they live.