June 13, 2007
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Blogging it OUT
On the theory that venting helps one get over vexations…
My entry yesterday included one perfectly adequate definition of “normal” and mentioned that other definitions have narrower technical applications, yet some people persist in asking, “What is normal?” or trying to attach a positive spin to what is essentially a neutral, descriptive, definitive word. The gist of those comments is that “normal” equates with “okay,” “superior,” “acceptable,” “approved,” etc.
I am not asserting that it is not okay or acceptable to be normal, only that it is equally okay to be abnormal, supernormal, or even subnormal. Each of us has some areas in which he or she is average (NORMAL) and other areas in which his size, income, work, family situation, intellect, strength, or some other facet of life, falls outside the normal range. It is not my place to approve or disapprove of anyone’s conformity or quirks or the absence of either. But, damnit, people, the word has existing definitions. It means something. It cannot mean superior, because it means average, the antithesis of both superiority and inferiority, the antithesis of standing out from the crowd in any way.
Get this through your heads: when you try to reassure someone who knows that he or she is not normal (thanks, Homer) that they are okay, that they are really normal, it is an insult. You insult not only that person’s intelligence (for we know we are not normal), but you also denigrate any efforts that person has made to excel, any accomplishments, any excellence that person has shown, or his or her efforts to transcend handicaps or disabilities.
The real issue here is not one of semantics. It is one of cultural values. When a culture places so much value on blending in and not excelling or deviating, it is a sick society. Be that way if you want to, but I won’t be party to it. If you are speaking of my height, the number of parents I have had, or other ways in which I fit into the norms, feel free to call any of those characteristics normal. When you refer to my hair color, my intelligence, my education, my lifestyle, my signature, or me in general, as “normal,” be prepared for an argument. Another way that I deviate from current social norms is that I don’t hesitate to make an issue out of such things.
Okay, I feel better now. I can get back to writing the real blog I was working on before I read my comments.
Comments (6)
interestingly enough, it’s not me. it was someone else
phew…i need to update my entry.
I’m not one to debate semantics… We all have normal and eccentric parts of our lives… Sometimes we fall into a norm or an eccentricity just because it’s the way we are and it’s just something we do… It’s when we strive to fit ourselves into one or another category; actually going out of our way to cram ourselves into a “normal” or “Non-Normal” mold is when we cease to be honest with ourselves…
I guess Nomadmj stopped reading before he got to the place where I said it is not about semantics.
I still believe naturally red hair to be normal since I know a lot of natural redheads.
my normal might not be someone elses normal… that’s all i know. i don’t know the definition of semantics so i can’t comment on that… there’s a lot of words i don’t know actually. dictionaries don’t help either because the definitions usually have another word i don’t know it it and i’d be spending all my time trying to figure out every word that my day would be shot.
Hehe…
Check it out.