On the other side, one could argue that society has a set "norm" or mold that is expected of people. And anything that is not conforming to the norm is abnormal and therefore considered wrong by some.

But then who are we to label people? What gives us the right to expect all of the human race to conform to one set of standards? Wouldn't it be detrimental to the advancement of the human mind to consider those who are different abnormal? People fear the "abnormal" and they fear what they don't understand...and they begin to hate it. Hate poisons the mind, heart and soul, and people hate what they do not understand or what they think is abnormal.
So wouldn't it be better to embrace differences rather than shun them? Wouldn't it be better to accept people for who they are and celebrate their differences rather than hate them?

Hate doesn't just hurt the ones who are hated...it also hurts the individual doing the hating.
Is it not better to love people than to hate them?
And if not love, then at least live and let live?

Misunderstanding, ignorance and "normal" breed hate. How can one decide what is "normal"? By what the majority says?

If you open your minds, you might find that people you never thought you could relate to, aren't as "bad" as you thought.

What is your stance?
Agree or disagree?
Is normal a lie, a myth that is detrimental to the human race?
Or is there such a thing as normal and is it a good thing, or a bad thing?


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Proud LW wifey of Ass F*CK Supreme
Be jealous bitches!!! :D
Do you cry when you see animals being abused?

Anyone who considers something wrong merely because it is in the minority instead of the majority is committing a more generalized form of the naturalistic fallacy, not to mention they're likely a hypocrite since just about every imaginable trait is a minority item in some fashion.

Embracing differences actually does have some merit - for one thing, you avoid ideological stagnation by providing context, contrast, and alternative ideas (which may or may not be invalid).
Really, it's not all that unlike the benefits of genetic diversity - a more diverse system tends to be more resilient to change and disruption. And if there's one consistent thing about human reality, it's that it changes over time.

Short version: Normal only exists as a statistic. To give it ethical value is to not only commit the naturalistic fallacy, you're also probably mixing up correlation and causation, as well as running into the is-ought problem.

Post edited at 6:53 pm on Oct. 26, 2009 by Stormblazer

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Religion: Atheistic agnostic, political independent
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i heard u leik zerglings

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It is a purely relative term.  

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These are all subjective notions that exist within our own minds, and as such, are at least 'chemically real.'

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Spicy Pidgeon

Normal really changes from culture to culture.  In China, it's acceptable to regulate the genders of babies.  In the US, that isn't accepted or "normal".  It just depends on what perspective you're taking.

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As such I don't think that, in a conventional sense of speech, we should hesitate to label things normal or abnormal. A schizophrenic can still be insane. Your points about exclusion, hatred, and oppression stemming from such distinctions, however, certainly bear some amount of attention. We can't forget that our narratives about the world are, fundamentally, stories. Insane isn't so much an inherent quality as it is a proscribed construction. Placing too much faith in the idea of normal espoused by a given group of people at a given group of time opens one to the disturbing possibility of persecuting those who see walking sticks instead of tables.

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"Hey, that's not very nice, Mayor--
just because a person's gay doesn't mean he's a fag!"
-Stan

The problem is, as you say, that people fear and hate the abnormal. I think you're wrong about the solution, though. We shouldn't stop considering things normal or abnormal, because that's only treating a symptom. The real solution is that society needs to not dislike the abnormal simply because it's different.

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Trust me, I'm a scientist.