Fear, the outlier?

Wooo, this energy is heavy, like Leonidas armer in 300 the movie. It’s cutting and unforgiving, the force of unjustified behaviors is pushing outliers to the front. What’s stopping the change? The energy trying to bind and forcing people away from embracing what has changed and whom is making changes; Fear. Do people fear the outliers of society ? Or is society embracing the outliers? If society is embracing the outliers, why aren’t the outliers being supported?

Let’s define outlier and fear:

Outlier has different meanings; culturally it means: A person or group that doesn’t conform to typical patterns, behaviors, or expectations — someone who stands apart from the majority.

statically speaking- In data, an outlier is a value that lies far outside the range of most other values in a dataset. It’s unusually high or low compared to the rest.

The etymology of fear runs deep and long; fear:

Old English (c. 700–1000 CE)

• The word was fǣr (pronounced kind of like fare).

• It originally meant “sudden danger, calamity, or ambush.”- (an external threat )

Proto-Indo-European (deep root)

• Traced back to PIE root *per- meaning “to try, risk, venture.”

• From this root, English also gets:

• peril (danger)

• experiment (a trying out)

• fear (the anxious response to risk or danger)

Language around the world changes how fear behaves: in Greek and Latin cultural language fear is associated with phobia stemming from the word phobein-to make flee. The word fear is an internal feeling in Latin; metos: dread anxiety to Pavor: trembling,panic,terror, shaking,paralysis.

People panic, tremble, and dread the unknown. The driver is cultural differences, cultural misunderstandings masking the truth about a group of individuals. The social fabric creates outlets perpetuating stereotypes and beliefs about groups of people.

In the book The  Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner, chapter 5 Black Men : How to perpetuate prejudice without really trying; he takes a look back into parts of history, painting a picture of compliancy while being hesitant and slow to correction.

In several of the examples, two stuck out the most. In the early 1990’s media reports hit the airwaves because Florida experienced tourist being  murder creating the headlines Ten tourist Killed in a year. Labeling from the masses as a crime wave. Perspectively, out of 41 million visitors ten murders occurred, the significance of the numbers boils down to 97 percent of all victims of crime in Florida was Floridians. Furthermore, British, German, and Canadian are 70 times more likely to be victimized at home. With all the data and evidence available showing the outcome of crimes against tourist it didn’t detour the headlines. Even though black , Hispanic, and local youth were far more likely to be a victim of crime. Similar situation in New York, innocent bystanders where killed in a cross fire- the news outlets headlines: The sense that it could happen to anybody,anywhere, like a plane crash. In the time New York Daily News reported it as “spillover” affecting the “silk-stocking areas”. Establishing a blueprint for future headlines; furthering panic in the communities: “thanks to crack cocaine epidemic most neighborhoods in the city have to deal with either crack of its foul by products. TV pushed the same rhetoric; Why? In the 1980’s two journalists deemed a term “unblees” meaning unidentified black males. The journalist only reported on what the police gave the most attention to. A study was done pointing to the correlation between downplaying the suffering of victims and news being reported.

What does this have to do with outliers?

Referring back to the above definition black and brown individuals are the outliers of America and other European communities. The push, currently, taking place is towards isolating black and brown people back into communities others deem deserving. People can’t stand outliers even though they aspire to be apart  of the American Dream. Not everyone started from the bottom and work their way up but it’s more individuals than less.

A story of a come up in America is supposed to be a badge of honor, a protective cloth no one dares to touch because it’s self made.

In the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell , chapter 5: The three Lessons of Joe Flom “Mary got a quarter”. He tells a story of a young boy who migrated to America with his parents. His family was simple and not wealthy, he would work towards his dream of being a lawyer with no formal education he set out making away for himself  eventually applying to Harvard Law school. He got accepted with one letter explaining: Why he was the answer to sliced bread.

Once the 60’s rolled in the Jewish lawyers took the cases white shoe firms rejected because they loathed litigating. Opening the door to Jewish law firms becoming some of the most successful practices. He’s an outlier right, absolutely! There’s also several other individuals who have similar if not more dramatic ascensions. His story like so many others ( especially if they immigrated to the area) are not looked currently as success stories. At least not when they should be recognized as successful. The war on the outliers is fascinating, all stemming from words and placement followed with action or in action. Being an outlier in 2025, has not been accepted with ease. Especially, if it goes against some else’s narrative of how things are supposed to work. For instance seeing different nationalities win in a country that’s says winning is important is the most significant achievement in the US, unfortunately, winning over the years has not set right with particular groups of people.

How can this be applied to advertising.

First don’t throw no shoes at me but advertising helped to create the impression and now it can help eliminate them with diversity, with the outliers of the communities they serve . Communicating hot topic message would be beneficial if a rainbow of people are behind it. Outliers like the Kendrick Lamar’s- yes I’m a fan of his come up. And comedians like Kevin on stage, Eddie Murphy, the 85 south comedians , or Jay-z. Each culture has groups of outliers who have mirroring stories. Advertisers can tell those stories and connecting the product will be the go to for a company.  Multicultural advertising keeps the company in the now of culture. There purpose is clear make the company be an outlier within global markets. How does a company due that, due what outliers do by not following the crowd. Outliers see what others don’t, they use what most see as worthless information to their advantage. Creating a campaign isn’t easy knowing the outliers are being frowned upon because of who they are and can’t change. Embracing the outliers of society will have the companies brand recognition standout, connecting and making a long lasting relationship between consumer and business.

Previous
Previous

Goodie Mob said it then, it’s relevant now

Next
Next

Differences, The Connector?