John O'Leary wrote an excellent post recently on "creative disruption" where he uses The Beatles as an example. I have written here on being disruptive a few times. As brilliant as they are, disrupters are often marginalized and isolated.
While often being maligned, disrupters, in fact, are those who make the difference in business, painting, music, science, education, medicine, poetry, fashion, communities, novels, religion, community philosophy, etc.
Who are these disrupters?
Jesus Christ
Martin Luther
Joan of Arc
Toni Morrison
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Jean Paul Gautier
Emily Dickinson
Friedrich Nietzsche
Chuck Berry
Tom Peters
Oscar Wilde
Leonardo Da Vinci
Gianni Versace
Muhammad Yunnus
Bela Bartok
Copernicus
Henry Miller
Malcolm X
Jean Paul Sartre
Marie Currier
Anita Roddick
Georgia O'Keefe
Nelson Mandela
Virgina Woolf
Igor Stravinsky
Vincent Van Gogh
Anais Nin
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Galileo
Nat Turner
History is replete which such ones, yet we seek to allow disruption to be. Perhaps without the struggle it would not find a place or consistency. Perhaps resistance is at the heart of disruption a necessity.
2 comments:
Geez, I'm still playing catch-up on your blogging, Judith! As soon as you started your list I looked for Nietzsche's name. As a philosophy major (and hard-core Catholic) reading the Genealogy of Morals for the first time I experienced some SERIOUS cognitive dissonance regarding my religious views - which didn't get sorted out for another 30 years! So I guess he qualifies as a disruptor. :-)
This may prompt me to make a list of the biggest disruptors in rock & roll history. Chuck Berry of course (along with Elvis & Little Richard) belongs on that list from the 50s and the Beatles & Dylan from the 60s. Jimi Hendrix too. And the early punk rockers from the 70s, like the Sex Pistols. Interesting thought exercise. Thanks!
Ah, Neitzche is a favorite. I began reading his works in high school and have learned so much from them over the years. Love him! By the way, he often railed against religion. The message of Christ is often antithetical.
I find it interesting the path that disrupters take. Some take a violent path, others a non-violent one, rather intellectually or physcially.
Jesus Christ was without doubt a disrupter and though he never struck anyone, he walked into the Temple and physically disrupted the sales that were going on, overturning tables and the seats of those who sold doves.
The power of Christ's message came through His life, actions, and words.
Do write a post on disrupters in rock and roll history. That'll be cool! Love Hendrix. Don't know the Sex Pistols. But what a name! I assume they are a male group. :-) Besides Janis Joplin, are there other other female rock and roll disrupters?
The Beatles and Elvis, owe a great debt to the likes of Chuck Berry, Big Mamma Thorton, and Little Richard. Disrupters are starters or those who re-create something anew. I live Elvis and The Beatles. But I can also see how some might ask how they are disrupters.
Yes, in some cases the above sped up the tempi and perhaps did some chord variations and turns, but many believe that they essentially made the music of the others "acceptable" for the masses.
I guess being disruptive may depend on the audience. In some communities the music of Elvis or the Beatles would not be considered disruptive at all, but a variation on what began there.
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