The problem of 'normal'

Seattle said:
How else would we define it? Normal by definition is what most people are doing. If you are outside of that you are abnormal.

That doesn't mean that you aren't healthy. In a population where almost everyone smokes, if you don't smoke you are abnormal for that population.
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Just because something has become accepted in society, doesn't make it ''normal.'' Being addicted to smoking (as many people are) isn't ''normal.''
 
DaveC426913 said:
Pretty sure it does.

Pretty sure it does.

"normal" is defined as "usual, typical or expected". It has nothing to do with good, bad, desirable or undesirable.
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It has become expected that most people will smoke? Has it become expected that most people will become addicted to drugs? (since many are addicted to drugs, it's normal?) :?

It's not normal to have an unhealthy habit, and not normal to accept unhealthy habits.

Guess, we'll have to agree to disagree. Oh wait, the title of this thread is ''the problem of normal'' lol Maybe that speaks for itself.
 
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wegs said:
Just because something has become accepted in society, doesn't make it ''normal.'' Being addicted to smoking (as many people are) isn't ''normal.''
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If everyone smokes, it's normal for that population.

Here you go playing with words again! :)
 
I understand. Maybe I just don't ''like'' the word, because it suggests that unhealthy behaviors not be challenged.
 
wegs said:
I wonder if sometimes we mistake ''normal'' for merely conforming to societal constructs. Those who don't conform, are dubbed ''abnormal.''
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that is normal
&
people exploit common compromise to be a tool for exploitation to undermine the individuals rights to be an individual.
e.g ...
a 5 year old is constantly being told how to conform
a 25 year old is constantly trying to make others conform
a 50 year old is trying to abandon conformity

what company is going to tell the parents of a 5 year old that their child is not entirely normal ?
what boss is going to tell a 25 year old they are nor being normal enough ?
what 50 year old select their group of personal friends based on who is the most normal ?

in your world of presentations, those of your customers who do not conform are called a financial loss as they interfere with the purchase process of the material(learning or on-boarding etc...)

what is normal compared to what is functional compared to what is profitable(profitable being profit or on-boarding the correct information)

women have massive subconscious pressure to conform to social construct norms
be those around presentation to hygiene(perceptions/infections etc...) to how to raise a baby and what type of birthday partys are appropriate, the school work and what the kids wear to school...
mostly all quietly dropped in the Ego value of the mother.

while everyone says they are not judging...
they ARE judging !
most of them who call themselves "normal" are judging. until they themselves feel judged, then they suddenly declare judgement is wrong.

Social Moral survivalism at its normalcy.

a good example is the feeling many single mothers have about how single fathers get touted as super heroes just for doing the same thing the single mothers have been doing for years.
The massive subconscious and non verbal pressure to conform and manipulation annoys me when i see companys exploiting social stigma to profit from.
its a corpratisation of a bleeding off of a weakness to service a false moral injury.
thats a different more complex subject.

Reminds me of the social compliance pressure to conform in a company i worked in
for friday night drinks
they felt the need to service people with a drink and because the process was a self serving Ego parade by the boss everyone was effectively forced to have a drink or become the group pariah who was instantly perceived as attacking the Ego of the boss.
intellectually they were very cave-man
but they felt themselves superior
The pressure was applied by the group as a learned group behavior to stroke the Ego of the boss and create body language compliance to group submissiveness.
One of the team committed suicide
i think they were over worked by one of the female bosses and the female supervisor who were under the male boss.
i personally blame all 3 for her death... as i know all 3 were applying pressure for her to perform threatening her job for some months all for sales targets and because she was middle aged, and the bosses wanted someone young and 20ish in her place.
i was a close personal confidant of hers and struggled to deal with it for some time.
i am a pacifist, but part of me wanted to take revenge. i am anti capital punishment and anti death penalty & anti torture, but i came to partially comprehend the drive behind those who seek out such vengeance.

normal can be a weapon or a tool or a joke or a piece of humor.

and yes, i still partially blame myself for not noticing the warning signs earlier(that feeling will probably never go away and i just have to live with it, such is some things)
 
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@ James R,

Your Opening post was bang on. Normals can be averages and higher than averages, but does that imply "ab-normal". It seems to imply uniformity is best according to the way many people still think. Not many value being different.

This quote is one of my favorites and aligned to that thinking by a Canadian Prime Minister named Trudeau.

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There is no problem with normal .

But those of the norm , must understand and appreciate those that think otherwise . Outside the norm , new ideas , different perspectives , new thinking upon the common understanding .

Exists and will always exist .
 
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river said:
There is no problem with normal .
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a scientist should never pander to the fragile ego of the person who opposes change

confluential contrast
survey theorem posit
"everything has already been done, already been thought, we are just repeating it"

is this a seriously held philosophical science of logical thought held by such proponents ?
 
RainbowSingularity said:
a scientist should never pander to the fragile ego of the person who opposes change

confluential contrast
survey theorem posit
"everything has already been done, already been thought, we are just repeating it"

is this a seriously held philosophical science of logical thought held by such proponents ?
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In the late 1800's , we thought that we understood the Universe .

We knew it all . They were wrong .
 
river said:
The OP , the problem of normal .

My post # 54 .
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Yup. That's what I'm telling you.

While it may make sense to you, it doesn't demonstrate any discernible connection to the thread topic.

And since all you've done is point to something you already posted, and can't even be bothered to clarify, I'm going to stop enabling this derail.
 
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