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the recent heavy lean on the word “normal” around these parts is really interesting to me. the word “normal” is doing a Lot of work in the posts that employ it
“just be normal” is attractive because it allows you Not to actually delineate a position or make an argument for why that position is correct, but instead to fall back on the notion of a previously agreed-upon stance that someone else has deviated from—a stance (“normality”) that is baked into the social order or perhaps into the fabric of the universe. good argumentation? no. handy? yes
I just think that when Michael Knowles of “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely” fame says “Banning transgenderism–what that would mean is telling people who are a little confused that […] they need to be normal. Be normal, I think that’s my main political message these days […] Society has a right to standards and norms”–I think that when this is the kind of rhetoric that is occurring you should maybe rethink your “being ‘normal’ is a virtue” stance. idk
# also the concept of a statistical ‘norm’ is derived from eugenics for what that’s worth
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