@RickiTarr Normal is a word that only takes into account what is acceptable to those in society who run it-to be considered 'normal' one must hew to the traits that make up the majority of the owners of society. You can't be different and be accepted by their version of society. it also depends on what segment of society you're asking for the definition of normal is.
@RickiTarr No. Some people have this idea of the "good ol' days" (for them) when more people were "normal" but it was just that people didn't realize they had the option of being themselves. Even the idea of what constitutes normal differs wildly if not by person then certainly by "community" (define that as you will).
I think "normal" is a social construct, so it only exists within the boundaries of a particular culture where boundary keepers have enough social capital to enforce "normality."
What is "normal" in one culture can be wildly aberrant in another, and completely off-the-radar in another.
@RickiTarr No. One person's normal is another person's abnormal.
Sure, there are 'abnormal' conditions in psychiatry, but generally speaking? Socially? Normal is a fluid concept that has never been set in stone so no, there are no 'normal' people.
My take away is that normal would be personality traits that are common enough to constitute a norm. But we're all all over the place, so it's hard to get a base line and say "this is normal." There are probably extremes whom we might call abnormal, like serial killers.
So normal is not killing a lot of people for pleasure. IDK. That's all I've got.
@RickiTarr “Normal” is a (frequently manipulative) conflation of two unrelated concepts: typicality and acceptability. In the first sense, things like homosexuality and redheadedness are statistically abnormal. The unspoken assumption that there’s a correlation with acceptability is used to classify only one of these characteristics as abnormal, in order to brutalize the disenfranchised.
@RickiTarr no there aren't we are all mad here, and outside. Normality is one of the most abstract concepts possible, by its very definition. The irony.
But we do perceive in an instinctive way what it is "common behaviour", that's why we all know what we should do when we say: "hey act normal, that giant octopus is looking at us!"
@RickiTarr Yep. If you could create some sort of holistic “normalcy” index for people, 95-98% of people would fall within 2 standard deviations of the mean.
There’s a desperation to be “special” that’s derived from a catastrophic lack of purpose in people’s lives. We also don’t really celebrate our individual skills, abilities, beliefs, etc., preferring to subjugate them to tribe.
Bob the neighbor has a wonderful, exciting story, and it doesn’t end with him being a fascist.
There are normal people. They uh... don't have any remarkable characteristics. Average intelligence, average achievements, an average upbringing, and so on. They're kind of rare, but they do exist. Honestly I'm not all that weird or especially aberrant, outside of my own unfortunate circumstances.
Yes and no. Everybody is different. And that is natural and normal.
Yes. There are people who try to live their lives according to the "norms".
My brain is fried. Toddlers woke me up at 5am.
There are normal people who reach in a bag of sweets, take one candy, enjoy that and go back for more after 10 minutes. Then there are people like me who open up a bag of cheese noodles and wake up in a ditch covered in leaves and shit surrounded by villagers holding lanterns and sickles.
@RickiTarr Normallity is relative. Simply by existing as a blind person I am already chaotic in a world where blindness is seen as rare and different yet I do my best to be myself in a normal fashion because I want to keep up appearances. Is that a bad thing? I do not think so. Socialization is essentially survival for people like me and I like to be liked, so if that means being like everyone else, so be it.
While I don’t think there are “normal” people. I do think there are “normies”, which are people who are basically satisfied with whatever the LCD offer is.
@RickiTarr There is no normal. Too many differentiators among humanity to find a group large enough to be considered "normal". If you have a normal group that means the rest of us would be abnormal. While there seems to be a group self assigning themselves that roll of determining "normal", I don't subscribe to their choices.
@RickiTarr I feel like ‘normal people’ are like ‘ideal gas’ - some absolute used to simplify calculations. Easier calculated means easier to predict, so easier to manipulate, to contain, to use. Therefore that ideal gets fed to us as something we should correspond to. As any model, I doubt it fully corresponds to many actual real people, but it wouldn’t be used if it didn’t describe some averaged behavior of a desirable cohort
@RickiTarr I believe in living with intention while remaining open to the absurd. Normal is whatever you decide normal to be, for you. What do you place value on? Your personal goals? If you are driven by money, fine, be ambitious and work toward that goal. Just don't be a dick about it. Accept that some people place a higher value on different things. It's more of a happy/unhappy continuum. Chase your happy. Social normalcy is irrelevant.
Some behaviours seen as normal in different locations:
*Expressively worshipping the only true deities and insisting others agree
*US gun culture
*Eating meat
*Not eating meat
*Slavery
*Women as property
*Believing the rich work harder
Underneath, we're all the same - we all want our families to be loved, happy, comfortable, fed, and sheltered. In that way we're normal. In other ways, who decides? 🤷
Normal is like saying the average European male is 1m72cm in height, and 73kg in weight. (Choosing completely random numbers of course)
Sure, there are millions of men who are exactly this height and this weight, but everyone else -- the vast majority -- are NOT within these measurements.
All of this to say, NOBODY is normal, especially if you take into account more measurements (including psychological).
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