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Opinions, Comments and Submissions
June 23, 2002

So who should state the case for the man in the street?
Albert Gumbo
May 20, 2002

With apologies to all feminists still dealing with Freudian issues, ( and with that kind of opening I have lost half my readership!) I will use the term ‘man’ in the street to refer to both sexes. ‘Person’ just does not seem to roll off the keyboard and ‘human’ sounds like I am appealing to the martian ruler Rorg to let my people go. So "man in the street" it is, enough waffle and off we go.

I believe in Malawi it started with a whisper… The man in the street actually started whispering and the rest is history. In Argentina, they prefer to be noisy about things and it was clanging pots and pans. What ever style one adopts, the essence of the argument here is that the man in the street began to state his case all by himself. I mean, lets face it; Thabo is not going to make it – His white horse would not be politically correct and the armour is in need of a shine. Apparently with their world cup exit, the Italians are still sulking and will not supply him with any Silvo. Neither George nor Tony have received their knighthoods, nor can they find Pegasus anywhere. Osama is not taking any calls at the moment and who would be crazy enough to call him anyway? So that rules them out and we are back to… the man in the street.

Maslow has identified a hierarchy of needs that determine man’s behaviour, from physiological ( mealie meal, cooking oil, sugar etc) right through to self actualization ( heal the world, NEPAD, democracy etc) and in between the two are needs classified under the headings of esteem, social and security in that order, none of which are currently available – no forex, Thabo, George or Tony you see.

Maslow argues that man’s behaviour is dictated by the strongest and most immediate need and further that it is only after one need is met that man actually moves on to the higher need. Well there is a hell of a gap between physiological and self actualization isn’t there? But then Maslow was really initially arguing in the context of the work place and history has shown us cases that prove that man does not always respect scientific opinion. You see Maslow did not take into account the fact that there are times in History when none of these needs are being met at the same time and that it therefore behooves of the man in the street to meet them all at the same time. I believe it is a wonderful rush but fraught with danger, much like bungee jumping.

The man in the street must therefore take this leap off the brink, trusting that the elastic will bring him back up and if it does not, the highest of his needs – self actualization - will have been met anyway, except he will not know about it. I mean who wouldn’t love to jump off the Vic Falls bridge in these times. Now is the time to do it, there are no tourists around and prices are the lowest they have ever been. What a special opportunity! You do realize of course, that once you step out of your car, you are a man in the street as well. So join the jump! … Jump! Jump!

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