Something strange is afoot in the Independent Peanut Republic of Rushey Platt. Up until now I've only been dimly aware of it, but yesterday something clicked into place.

Somebody wants me to conform. To be the same as everyone else. To be ordinary. To relinquish my individualism. To accept mundanehood. Most people do. They choose a stereotype in order to fit in and avoid attention. They adopt the uniform, the manner, and the language of their chosen tribe. Thats ordinary social behaviour for our species. But perhaps there's another way of looking at it. One might consider it a lack of personality, in that they imitate someones elses, without any real self-expression. One might consider it a form of cowardice, in that the person is too afraid of public ridicule or ostracisement. Or perghaps more appropriately, one might consider this confotmity a form of slavery, in that they accept the wishes of a dominant member of the tribe concerning their appearance and behaviour.

The Romans understood slavery better than we do. Thats understandable, because it was a feature of their everyday lives. What I notice about roman slavery is that time and again, an enslaved man is held to have died. A legionary captured and enslved by the enemy was considered dead, and a funeral held in his honour. Most importantly, the romans therefore valued freedom.

So perhaps you could say that life without freedom is simply another form of death.

A man who is not prepared to die for something is not fit to live

Martin Luther King

Strong stuff, from a man in the forefront of the abolition of the american apartheid, a social offspring of the slavery outlawed a century before. In romanesque fashion, MLK believes a man should be able to choose his cause, that he has that freedom, and that freedom must be defended. I've already said elsewhere that if you don't defend your freedom, eventually someone will take it from you. Mine is now under threat. Why?

Thats more difficult. As is often the case, manipulative people prefer not to confront. Is it about my lack of motor transport? Employers have been stressing that just lately, and thats unusual. My lack of motor transport is because my last two cars were deliberately ruined. Why then would I waste money on another, especially for a class of car I loathe with every fibre of my being? I also notice that employers are stressing the need for me to consider second place to someone less capable than I am.

Is it my 'independent republic', my declared independence of the British government? Whilst I cast scorn on our dear government, I did nonetheless once make an oath to the Crown in my younger days - I never reneged on that.

Or is it my religious beliefs? Of what value are they if I simply discard them on demand? Of what value are beliefs adopted in their place without passion or piety?

So, MLK, in a small way, it appears I too have to face a struggle for freedom. The possible death I face is an abstract one. Not actually fatal, just a lingering exclusion. Is it therefore worth denying myself my hopes, dreams, and aspirations? What an empty and false existence that would be. To give up is to conform, to enslave myself to a stereotype of someone elses choosing, to lose my individuality, to put on a public face, to live a lie.

I have chosen my battlefield. My eneny stays in the shadows.

Another Mans Fight

What am I to make of Morgan Tsvangarai, Robert Mugabe's electoral opponent? He campaigns for positive change as opposed to the negative change enforced by Mugabe's thugs. In that I cannot help but support him. Yet somehow I fail to really understand the man. Is that a failing of the media reporting, or simply a success of Mugabe's suppression of it? For sure MT is treading a difficult path, and clearly he risks an unpleasant fate. But what does MT actually want? Is it really a new beginning or does he have a more personal motive? Its very difficult to tell, and he doesn't quite have the presence of his opponent on screen. We shall see.