Individuals dare to be different – by being exactly the same

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

Anyone with their formative years in the seventies will instantly recall the Life of Brian, the Monty Python movie that was more desired because of its ban than its humour.

For those who didn’t bother, the film was set in the time of Jesus where Brian, the eponymous star, was the alternative Messiah. In reality, it was just a vehicle for the Pythons to poke fun at religion in their own inimitable way.

Perhaps the most famous scene is the one where Brian has returned to his family home, only for his mother to find a horde of his followers outside the window waiting for words of wisdom to flow from his lips.

Brian is perplexed and has nothing to offer – other than to insist they shouldn’t follow him, that he’s not who they think he is, and that they should really make up their own mind on things rather than seek the guidance of a God.

“You don’t need to follow me,” he tells them. “You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves. You’re all individuals!”

“Yes, we’re all individuals!” they respond.

“You’re all different!” continues Brian.

“Yes, we are all different!” they retort.

“You’ve all got to work it out for yourselves!” advises Brian.

“Yes! We’ve got to work it out for ourselves!”

And so it goes – the Pythons’ clever insight into the herd mentality when an effort at individualism would be more in people’s line.

All of that came back to mind recently after a court case where a so-called hipster – check shirt, jeans, sandals, woolly hat, unkempt beard – sued a magazine for using his image without his permission.

Only it wasn’t him at all; just another hipster, another self-thinking individual who happened to dress in what has ironically become the uniform of those who claim to shun the world of uniformity.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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