What is the definition of normal?
Am I normal, or are you?
And if you're normal, and I'm clearly not like you, what does that make me?
Am I weird?
Okay, I'm weird.
Let Rob = weird for the sake of argument.
So if I'm weird, who's to say that my weirdness is not normal?
Who is given the power to define normalcy?
Maybe we're all weird.
Or maybe we're all normal!
Oh wait! I know!
It's our individual weirdnesses that make us all normal!!
We're all normal, everyday, run of the mill people because we're all weird!
So if you're trying to fit in, and be normal...the BE WEIRD!!
It's much easier to be weird than it is to be normal.
Don't be creepy though, because...nevermind...that's another post.
No nefarious substances were consumed during the writing of this post.
4 comments:
So-called "normalcy" is defined by boring people. If everyone were "normal" then the world would be a dry and terrible place as being "normal" involves taking no risks, because doing so would be deemed "abnormal."
Why define yourself according to such an arbitrary concept? Why not re-define the concept itself? Besides, there are degrees of "normal activities" for every circumstance. For instance, if i were to cry during a sad movie, emotional musical composition or upon tragic news, that would be acceptable; however, if I were to start crying during say a hockey game, I think that would get a mixed response.
In a world where we are told that we must be individual to succeeed, yet also fit into a social mould, where does "normalcy" belong in the first place?
I agree with that comment. Normalcy is all relative to our social settings. It's most evident in extremes. For instance, I'm sure most North Americans will think it weird that Ethiopian virgin girls whack out their front teeth to stretch their lips because brides with the largest lip plates get the most cows for their families, but for them it's the norm. By the same token, they must think that fast food is pretty weird.
Quotidian activities that populate our developmental years are subconsciously defined in our psyche as normal.
It's normal to be unique, but it is this same uniqueness that makes us think that things are weird when they don't conform to our 'normal' definitions.
So words like weird and normal shouldn't really be generally 'dictionarily' defined. Their definitions should be on a personal level.
That being said, I think it's normal to be weird and not weird that being weird makes you normal.
First, I agree with everything that everyone said. You are all very smart people and I'm humbled to be commenting on the same post.
Second, you have all essentially defined what I'm sure the dictionary calls normal. You have essentially said that normal is contextual. The meaning of normal is defined by it's use. It's normal to wear a toque in Winter while it's weird to do so in summer. Lets try dictionary.com...
"Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type"
You see... there has been a lengthy discussion only to reach the very same conclusions as some random group of guys from "The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition" did.
Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Way to come back with a bang Rob. Well.... not counting your "Music to Further Loose my Interest" post.
As a side note, anyone who doesn't have a desk job might think it's weird that I got 3 emails while writing that comment.
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