Are you Normal? What is Normal?

I recall a particular time when I was studying psychology, and the class was discussing how to define abnormal behaviour, since that is the foundation of psychology/psychiatry - to diagnose people with abnormal behaviour. This was probably about six months before my sorry self finally decided that the rabbit hole was preferable to the matrix so to speak, and this incident was a key realisation that led me in that direction.

We were shown a slideshow of different characters and people, both real and fictional, and we had to decide whether we would class them as normal or abnormal. There were characters like Shrek, King Kong, etc, as well as an amputee soldier, I think an albino person, and various other 'unusual' people.

The issue I took was with what exactly the definition of abnormal was. See, many of my peers were reluctant to classify, for example, the amputee soldier as 'abnormal', because it was 'not nice' to do so, but I insisted that all were abnormal because it is, statistically, not what you would expect when meeting a random person. I was viewed as cold or uncaring for taking this viewpoint...but, I reasoned, what is normal anyway? Who is normal? Is that the pinnacle of humanity, the one thing every living soul desires to be, normal?

I realised the popular conception of 'abnormal' was not based on statistics, but on herd mentality. Those deemed 'abnormal' by my classmates were the ones who were to be shunned from the collective. So, the more sinister characters, the shifty ones like the fictional villains, they were abnormal, while everyone else was not to be called 'abnormal' because that is 'mean'.

Yet, I do not shun someone because they are 'abnormal', nor do I accept people on the grounds that they are 'normal'. No-one is normal. Everyone is unique! This is the herd mentality at work. Everyone wants to be normal so that they will be accepted, and they accept other people on the basis of their 'normality' or otherwise. Self-perpetuating conformity.

Something is wrong with this system!

If we are all striving to be 'normal', then we are allowing ourselves to be controlled by whoever defines what is normal and what is abnormal. And that is the education system, the television, the media, the entertainment world, the corporations, the bright lights and flashing colours.

Bringing it back to the original concept of psychoanalysis, yes there are people who are mentally ill, a danger to others and so on. But I do believe, in the vast majority of cases, the trend is to overproject the scale of mental illness, not underestimate it.

The idea that abnormal behaviour is a sign that something is wrong with you is usually false. It is designed to inhibit you from being you, and to make you become someone else's opinion, to mould your wonderful and amazing self into the tiny shell, or cell, that the corporate world has made for you; the glass and metal cage, the mannequin, the magazine cover. You want to be 'normal', but in the process you have forgetten that you are you.

So, if you are declared 'abnormal' by the insane consensus reality that governs this world, be not offended! Better to be you than a slave of the herd, and a clone of your masters' will!