Outsider - n. -
1. One who is excluded from a party, association, or set.
2. One who is isolated or detached from the activities or concerns of his or her own community.
We hear about it often in politics. Well maybe not this cycle, but next time around at least one of the cantdidates will proclaim themselves an outsider from the Washington beltway. It'll happen in races for Governor, Senator, and all down the list of choices.
And hoards will flock to several of these people.
They'll be lying. They are not excluded from their parties or isolated from the concerns of their community. They will be in the thick of it.
That is why it doesn't work that way in real life.
The politics and the personal do not collide well on this issue.
A political person claims to be outside because; they are independent of party bias, they are not beholden to interests, are in touch with people. It is a way to distance themselves from their party. I predict even more Republican "outsider" candidates if the election goes as hoped this time around. When selling yourself, it doesn't hurt to stand apart from the other guy. It doesn't make them an outsider, it makes for a more distinct choice, that is all.
On a personal level a politician would never be an outsider. It is something that most of us normal people actively work to avoid. Who chooses to be isolated, alone, to not have the ear or thoughts, or the compassion of those around them. Who doesn't want to have a voice. That isn't a politician.
On a personal level we instead punish the outsider. The graduations may be subtle, but the effect multiples. It might be as simple as not being given the special deal or inside track to the job. Or it might be much more overt; think of the people you knew who were hidden in plain sight, those who were bullied for not being part of a group. Any group.
They are on the periphary of the party, not metiphorically, but literally. They are not the President of the club, but more likely to not even belong. They are the guy who eats his lunch at work alone, quietly.
I am an outsider.
It makes it hard to consider myself part of anything.
I held on to the label Independent longer than I thought possible, only switching to calling myself Democrat farily recently. It wasn't action on the Democratic Party's part either, but rather the relentless assult of the Republicans on just about everything I believe.
I am part of a few online communties, but at all of them, and even here I still consider myself looking in, and at the periphary of the dance. It isn't a comfortable feeling, and one that can't be validated by an outside voice. I feel compelled to speak my voice, and still uncertain if my voice is part of these communities, much less welcome.
The final contradiction of being an outsider, is knowing that I am not alone. That there are people scattered across the country who are nearly identical to me in this respect, and that I am not an unique little snowflake.