Normality

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Does this concept mean anything to you? Do you just think it's outmoded, or do you actually feel disturbed and threatened by it? How would you define it, and do you think you fit into it, or do you think we should just throw it into the dictionary's recycle bin, never to be reinstated?

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 24 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Normality (everyday life)...I see it as things going along in a predictable and routine manner, without too many obstacles or side tracks...I equate it with the simple life and making sure things are balanced. I don't have alot of time for soceital expectations of normality (ie you're 25 you should be out clubbing and experimenting with all kinds of things, or your 35 now you should have a good job, stable relationship and 1st child on the way), screw that crap!...So, I don't like normality as a a system of defining the human condition, or predicting behaviour.

― james e l, Sunday, 24 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Normality is trying to avoid needlessly upsetting other people by avoiding actions that are not understandable to the average person. This is a good thing and society could not continue without it. I think life would be more pleasant if everyone was considerate of this, don't you?

― tarden, Monday, 25 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If having a Twix is a break from the norm then give me normality anyday. Those counter-culture lifestyles are too tame daddy-o.

― Pete, Monday, 25 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think the mistake made is to equate "normality" with "propriety" - that is, confusing the way things are with the way things should (in a perfect world) be.

I think a "normal" life is a life where you don't try to impose undue restrictions on yourself and let things occur naturally - no cognitive dissonance, no unwieldy expectations. Just Life. (Maaaaaan.)

On reading that, though, it sounds like Angus Grade Horsepuckey.

― David Raposa, Monday, 25 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

David - I'd have to disagree. A lot of people view 'normality' as the mundane, boring, 9-5 job life a lot of people leave. hence, the 'alternative' lifestyle thing. the fact that, hey, the 'alternative' lifestyle is even more conforming than a dull old 'normal' one seems to point that there is nothing other than normality, and anyone who has got to something beyond that is some kind of genius.

Bill

― Bill, Monday, 25 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Myself, I can't disassociate "normality" from the whole Norman Tebbit idea of humanity, which sets up an ideal for everyone to conform to and damns and condemns those whose tastes and interests don't fit into the stereotype of their geographical / cultural background.

Therefore, "normality" is at best meaningless to me, and at worst threatening.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

True Robin, but I think everyone strives to be "normal" at one level or another. It's about belonging to a group and conforming to a certain image people have of themselves - one of the root illnesses of mankind and something we are all afflicted by to a certain degree.

― Johnathan, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To think the IRA came *so close* to getting Tebbit...a crying shame.

― DG, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A website piece I once read referred to him as "Normal Tebbit". Amusing, but not pleasantly so.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I mean that *any mention* of the man is unpleasant. A joke seems to make him seem less hateful and that is Not A Good Thing ...

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Johnathan: I can sympathise. It's peer pressure, something I've struggled long and hard *not* to succumb to. Whether I'm right or wrong in this I don't know.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 26 June 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

Normal is a setting on a washing machine

― Scott, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think some kind of stifling concept of the 'normal' is probably the price we pay for socialisation. The kind of normalising that annoys me unduly is the G2/Radio 5 'we're all doing this' bollocks (or, in the case of I Love the 80s, 'we were all doing this' bollocks.)

― Nick, Wednesday, 15 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

seven months pass...

normal revival answers only

― Queen G, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'normal' is important to my thinking. not 'normal' in the sense of status quo or 'average'. I think very few people in the US qualify as 'normal', they are all fucking whackos. I believe in the virtues of the middle of the road in a zen kind of way. I dress really plainly and tend to blend in with the background most of the time. I can relate to most of what tarden was saying above. If a person is naturally in-your-face or confrontational, that's OK but I probably won't want to spend too much time w/ you. Which is fine cuz I'd bore you I'm sure. I don't believe in being bored. I am never bored. I could entertain myself for hours staring at a blank wall because my brain never shuts up. blahblahblahblah

― Ron, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm quite normal and average really, I dunno what I was on about previously! Oh well!

― jel --, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Law is part of the dominant narrative of society that operates to create an illusion of normality against which 'truth' can be judged. 'Truth' is the product of the dominant narrative. We can witness the creation of such a normality in the process of the problematisation of madness. The 'mad' person is an anomaly. Madness is outside thought; the insane offender has to be normalised or incarcerated. However, madness is its own truth, its own equally valid form of thought, but one which has been medicalised and problematised. Not acceptable on its own terms, our thought has rationalised, through the prism of criminal psychiatry, madness.

― Cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 19 April 2003 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

there are no answers, only choices - I saw Solaris, and that's the only good bit.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 19 April 2003 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

It's really tragic, because I aspire to normality in spite of being an utter weirdo, inherently and completely.

I guess I need to be convinced this is okay.

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Saturday, 19 April 2003 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Without normality there would be no uniqueness! I am normal in many ways and have a few things about myself that are wildly and utterly abnormal -- some in a good way, some in a not-so-good way, some in an indifferent way. That in itself is "normal" -- the particular abnormal eccentricities are the only variable. I like being normal enough to be able to relate to the people around me, with just enough abnormal qualities to occasionally stop said people in their tracks ...

― jewelly (jewelly), Saturday, 19 April 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Normality. Does this concept mean anything to me? Not normally, no.

― Matthew Adam Thurgood (Matt T), Saturday, 19 April 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb5F58OFTis

― gershy, Thursday, 1 November 2007 05:53 (eighteen years ago)

http://allpsych.com/researchmethods/images/normalcurve.gif

― Dan I., Thursday, 1 November 2007 06:00 (eighteen years ago)

nine months pass...

I'm not sure, in 2001, that Normal Tebbit was the enemy.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 15 August 2008 15:45 (seventeen years ago)

http://fmfeat.tripod.com/autismissues.jpg

― and what, Friday, 15 August 2008 16:04 (seventeen years ago)

I am a sucker for this kind of question.

Normality is useless as a societal concept. All it can do is produce statistical midpoints within wide ranges, such as the mythical couple with 2.3 children. No one at all represents a societal norm.

Normality is a somewhat useful personal concept, in that it is possble to define what is normal for you. Such as, I normally wake up at such and such a time each day, or I normally have such and such a breakfast. One may then compare a particular facet of one's life with what is normal and determine how closely it approximates the norm.

I say this is somewhat useful since departures from the norm can be either invigorating or stressful, depending on circumstances, and the ability to identify which of these dynamics is at work in your life can help you to manage stress or get out of a rut.

In particular, it is useful to recognize when a personal norm has shifted, so one may stop experiencing it as stressful and start to 'normalize' it as ordinary and expected. An extreme example of this would be someone who has become paraplegic, who must accept their situation as normal or fail to accept it and through their failure extend their suffering, by longing for the old norm.

So, yes, normality has a reasonable meaning for me and a purpose, but not in the societal context that Mr. Carmody envisioned when he asked the question, lo, those many years ago.

― Aimless, Saturday, 16 August 2008 16:47 (seventeen years ago)

It's not standard normal if there aren't 5% at least 2 standard deviations from the mean.

― libcrypt, Saturday, 16 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

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