|
Until you sign up you can't do much. Yes, it's free.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | / / / Viewing Topic
|  |
|
Is there such a thing as "Normal" or is it a myth?  |
|
|
|
 Replies: 17 — Last Post Jan. 10 3:47pm by jelli1224
|
|
|
|
|
| Choice |
Votes |
Percent |
|
| There is no such thing as normal. |
15 |
50% |
|
| There is such a thing as normal. |
15 |
50% |
|
| Vote Now! |
30 Votes Cast |
|
|
|
( Oceanborn )
Swami
 Patron
|
     
On the one side, one could argue that there is no such thing as normal because everyone is an individual and has their own special traits and quirks; and that for someone to live by what they think is "normal" is stupid and delusional. On the other side, one could argue that society has a set "norm" or mold that is expected of people. And anything that is not conforming to the norm is abnormal and therefore considered wrong by some. But then who are we to label people? What gives us the right to expect all of the human race to conform to one set of standards? Wouldn't it be detrimental to the advancement of the human mind to consider those who are different abnormal? People fear the "abnormal" and they fear what they don't understand...and they begin to hate it. Hate poisons the mind, heart and soul, and people hate what they do not understand or what they think is abnormal.
So wouldn't it be better to embrace differences rather than shun them? Wouldn't it be better to accept people for who they are and celebrate their differences rather than hate them? Hate doesn't just hurt the ones who are hated...it also hurts the individual doing the hating.
Is it not better to love people than to hate them?
And if not love, then at least live and let live? Misunderstanding, ignorance and "normal" breed hate. How can one decide what is "normal"? By what the majority says? If you open your minds, you might find that people you never thought you could relate to, aren't as "bad" as you thought. What is your stance?
Agree or disagree?
Is normal a lie, a myth that is detrimental to the human race?
Or is there such a thing as normal and is it a good thing, or a bad thing?
-------
"I don't hate people. I just feel better when they aren't around."
― Charles Bukowski
|
6:18 pm on Oct. 26, 2009 | Joined: Mar. 2006 | Days Active: 1,189
Join to learn more about Oceanborn California, United States | Pansexual Female | Posts: 8,465 | Points: 25,968
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 LiveWire Humor
|
|
Stormblazer
Swami
Patron
|
No such thing except in terms of statistics, and those generally apply to one thing (or one set of related things) at at time. Anyone who considers something wrong merely because it is in the minority instead of the majority is committing a more generalized form of the naturalistic fallacy, not to mention they're likely a hypocrite since just about every imaginable trait is a minority item in some fashion. Embracing differences actually does have some merit - for one thing, you avoid ideological stagnation by providing context, contrast, and alternative ideas (which may or may not be invalid).
Really, it's not all that unlike the benefits of genetic diversity - a more diverse system tends to be more resilient to change and disruption. And if there's one consistent thing about human reality, it's that it changes over time. Short version: Normal only exists as a statistic. To give it ethical value is to not only commit the naturalistic fallacy, you're also probably mixing up correlation and causation, as well as running into the is-ought problem. Post edited at 6:53 pm on Oct. 26, 2009 by Stormblazer
-------
Atheistic agnostic, INTP, political independent
"Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marty3
Soothsayer
 Ad Free
|
There is no such thing as normal, as it relates to a person's reactions to a situation. Every person is unique, therefore everyone is different. If everyone is different from each other, how can a significant portion conform to the same image? They can't. Therefore, the image of being normal is an artificial creation that cannot exist based on the uniqueness of an individual
-------
Modesty is one of my many admirable qualities. If you need
to talk, even just to get something off your chest, PM me.
|
8:35 am on Nov. 8, 2009 | Joined: Feb. 2009 | Days Active: 168
Join to learn more about Marty3 Scotland, United Kingdom | Straight Male | Posts: 6,046 | Points: 10,067
|
|
| |
|
|
Wilder
Connoisseur of Hallucination
Patron
|
I would argue that "normal" exists as much as tables do. A table isn't inherently a table in and of itself; no essence flows from its substance or form. To someone of another culture, what we consider a table might appear as four walking sticks atop which someone has, absurdly, mounted a piece of walking stick wood that hasn't been cut yet. Social construction is at play, but I can still use my table as a table (or a collection of walking sticks...). As such I don't think that, in a conventional sense of speech, we should hesitate to label things normal or abnormal. A schizophrenic can still be insane. Your points about exclusion, hatred, and oppression stemming from such distinctions, however, certainly bear some amount of attention. We can't forget that our narratives about the world are, fundamentally, stories. Insane isn't so much an inherent quality as it is a proscribed construction. Placing too much faith in the idea of normal espoused by a given group of people at a given group of time opens one to the disturbing possibility of persecuting those who see walking sticks instead of tables.
-------
In so far as the word "knowledge" has any meaning, the world is knowable;
but it is interpretable otherwise,
it has no meaning behind it, but countless meanings.
-Nietzsche
|
7:45 pm on Nov. 8, 2009 | Joined: Dec. 2005 | Days Active: 1,962
Join to learn more about Wilder Colorado, United States | Gay Male | Posts: 15,116 | Points: 52,275
|
|
| |
|
|
TaLovesTu
Dairy Product Addict
|
I say there is no such thing as normal. Normal is a perspective. If you are say... a 'chav' you would believe that you are normal and that the 'scene' people are weird. For the 'scene' people it would be completely the opposite. There can be no norm, because of the diversity in modern society.
|
|
|
sertrbl
Swami
Patron
|
The normal is simply the average of all involved. Considering most of society has 10 fingers, it is normal to have 10 fingers, and abnormal to have 9 or 11.
Since a vast majority of society is heterosexual, it is normal to be heterosexual, and abnormal to be homosexual. The problem is, as you say, that people fear and hate the abnormal. I think you're wrong about the solution, though. We shouldn't stop considering things normal or abnormal, because that's only treating a symptom. The real solution is that society needs to not dislike the abnormal simply because it's different.
-------
Trust me, I'm a scientist.
|
10:51 am on Nov. 22, 2009 | Joined: Oct. 2009 | Days Active: 511
Join to learn more about sertrbl Ohio, United States | Straight Male | Posts: 11,584 | Points: 26,800
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
snowfish
Swami
Patron
|
I think of normal as the void space in the center of cultural imaginary. That is, it's a space of privilege that never has to be defined, because it is everything that is not marked as 'abnormal'. That's how the power imbalances and domination between 'normal' and 'abnormal' subjects become elided.
-------
LW's resident eccentric radical.
|
1:31 pm on Dec. 5, 2009 | Joined: Feb. 2006 | Days Active: 758
Join to learn more about snowfish Massachusetts, United States | Female | Posts: 12,263 | Points: 28,105
|
|
| |
|
|
repression
cansei de ser sexy
Patron
|
Humans are fond of taking liberties such as assuming they have the right to decide what is right or wrong for other humans.
Normal is decided by the majority. It's a way to ostracize those who might threaten the majority's way of life, so normal doesn't really exist. It's really just a word to describe something that the majority of people have or believe to be correct.
|
|
|
pseudo neurosis
Connoisseur
|
I take the Anthropological stance: normal is determined by cultural context.
-------
In a city made of steel
The concrete rage is all we feel
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Looking for something else?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| / / / Viewing Topic | |
|
366 users online 
262349 members 
You have 1 new message.
It is a purely relative term. 
