The fact that something is normal or normalized doesn’t magically make it ethical, moral, or right. Sure, it does feel like the issue has reached a point where folks quite literally don’t see it or just don’t care enough about it and everyone’s cool with that, but it doesn’t detract from the idea that it can be flat out messed up and that something definitely needs to change.
Folks on Reddit recently gathered to discuss such issues, specifically sharing the things that are widely normalized but are actually really messed up in a now viral AskReddit thread.
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Normalization is a social process whereby something—an idea, an action, what have you—is made “normal” and viewed as such by the vast majority of a society. To them, it just feels natural in everyday life at this point and is often taken for granted.
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The idea of normalization has been discussed by several notable figures, including French philosopher, historian and activist Michel Foucault. His unique take is within the context of disciplinary power and the 19th century. Essentially, normalization is a process of establishing an ideal standard of behavior and enforcing it through rewards and punishment. This way, you form a broader strategy and discipline that essentially controls society with minimal effort.
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And you can say that there are several layers of normalization. That which is good or bad can be normalized as is, but it also changes over time and the new norms can also become good or bad as a result.
This ought to be concerning because, considering the past few US presidential elections and the media’s impact over it was a dangerous game to play as it essentially normalized controversial behaviors.
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The idea behind this sociopolitical normalization was the psychological idea of repetition—a certain kind of desensitization. Repeated exposure to particular behaviors, very closely covered by the media, has great power in pushing towards forming a view that this is normal over time.
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And it’s not just politics. There are studies that have determined men exhibiting stalker-like behaviors can lead to female viewers to become more tolerant of obsessive behaviors.
While many are protective of the concept of normal, always wanting to retreat to that comfort zone after a life-changing event, it’s these situations of shifting acceptance that prove just how that which is normal changes over time.
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In fact, having a fixed idea of what is normal seems to be a problem. Cultural theorists, sociologists and other experts agree that more folks should recognize that normal is a “value judgment and not a neutral or descriptive term.” It is so because having set ideas of what normal is in beauty and aesthetics is damaging to the self esteem of women and girls alike.
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So, no, not everything needs to be normalized. Not only for the reasons above, but also there is a certain kind of overuse and subsequent misapplication of the concept of normalizing things in modern day society.
While the idea of normalizing things to foster a culture of acceptance is definitely the way to go, a lot of folks started using the word as if it’s a trend and have attempted to either normalize things that are already normal or have attempted to normalize them into a level of glamorizing it. It’s overdoing it, in other words.
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Not everything has to be normalized and not everything has to be accepted, despite there being a strong culture of acceptance. As it leads to a culture that doesn’t give things critical thought. Normalizing everything essentially starts to desensitize the core issues that might tie in with a particular topic.
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Whatever the case, normalizing stuff has to be done right. It has to be purposeful, well paced, critical and truly sending a message of what the society or the culture stands for. And even if something looks good on paper, in the long run, it can turn into something that was not intended. Sometimes, that seems like a natural course of things, but it doesn’t mean there should be a tolerance just because.
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So, what are your thoughts on any of this? Have any norms in mind that were normalized even though they shouldn’t have? Share your ideas, takes and stories in the comment section below!
And if this isn’t enough, jumping into a rabbit hole on Bored Panda might just be a pleasant way to spend the evening.
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