godofmasks
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![]() Posted: Post subject: The Paradox of Human Normality |
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First the definition:
1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.
2. serving to establish a standard.
Obviously this only applies to humans in the most conventional sense. As was already stated, a dog can be considered normal because it has four legs. So too can a person be considered normal because they have a standard body shape(two arms, two legs, a head, etc.), a circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, digestive, respiratory, and endocrine system. The average human i.e. "normal" shares the same anatomical standards as others.
It is only when you look at the realm of the personality as in character, quirks, thought patterns and so on that the variables become so numerous they defy classification. Here's the paradox. If no two people ever share the same personality and we are all different all the time then that is normal. The standard in this case is that no two personalities ever be the same. So in order to be normal, you must be different. It is only when you become someone else that you are abnormal.
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alikakadri
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![]() Posted: Post subject: |
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my take on it
and i hate the term normal.... can we say typical or atypical?
anyway... it's used to describe the majority as they tend to have certain aspects in common (or try to emulate some sort of pre-concieved notion of acceptability would have fit in past generations... not so sure now...except we're still all connected with previous generations' idea of it...)
The reason I hate the term is that it fits everyone in a little box fitted neatly onto a shelf and if anyone skews from that definition, they are mocked, pounced on, ridiculed, insulted and usually mistreated and abused.
Having grown up in a very mixed environment where ppl generally are accepting of difference to the point where all those things seen as abnormal or weird have been pretty okay and normal, I think I prefer individuality to fitting in a small stuffy box...
having a son on the autism spectrum has increased my distaste for the common, the typical and the boxed... I would have missed so much had I not faced raising such a smart and anything-but-typical child. And I'm faced with all those who refuse to accept individuality so much now... it really does put things into perspective...
Not to say that I have a problem with typical common ppl, but they tend to be less approachable for me... I have little in common with, but I try to understand why they do what they do and think how they think.
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