Brevity, the soul of wit (and wisdom)

I've realized that the marginalization of the outlier is standard practice. Average is so much easier to countenance. Unfortunately, it is the exceptional who make things happen and usually they do so in spite of the squeeze forces of mediocrity.

 

We fear what we don't understand and we marginalize that which we fear.  All too often, the outlier is marginalized not because she/he is wrong but because we are afraid the she may be right.

 

Having ignored the brilliant, if outside-the-norm, ideas of the outlier, what do we rely on instead for direction? Usually the run-of-the-mill.  But the run-of-the-mill can only generate run-of-the-mill results.  I wonder, is it the outlier we fear or is it the success that the outlier's ideas may birth that frightens us?