What is abnormal? Back when Hitler was in power, he had many followers who supported his mass murder. Now, in the USA mass murder would be considered abnormal, because the mass of people do not like it. But when you have a whole society of people supporting mass murder, is it normal now?
I don't really believe in normal or abnormal, because there really is no such thing unless you consider what the masses like or dont like.
Any thought or comments?

Quote:

---

What is abnormal?

---

A relative distinction. The key is recognizing those distinctions and considering what's normal and abnormal for you.

Quote:

---

I don't really believe in normal or abnormal, because there really is no such thing unless you consider what the masses like or dont like.

---

That's the crux of the matter.

Without limiting yourself to popular opinion, questions of universal morality are moot.

What one culture does may not be what another does. What's normal for one, may not be normal for the other.

It's up to the individual to check their solipsism at the door.

Staying up until 4am developing pictures in my darkroom is normal
to me. For others, it is not.

Some people are born with congenital birth defects or develop a
strange growth or cancer, which is abnormal.

You say you don't believe in "normal" or "abnormal". I don't
believe in trees but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

What exactly is it that you are trying to find out by asking your this?

You need to define the difference between what is "normal and abnormal" vs "accepted and unaccepted." Mass murder being accepted in Germany during the time Hitler was in power but was not what most people considered normal.

We accept many things as normal today because society accepts it and defines it that way, but the reality is that no one individual or group of people can really define normal or abnormal and the same can be applied to accepted and unaccepted in the world except for themselves.

Ask Gomez Addams.

Well, Mr.Gomez. Lets hear it................

I once saw a man who had no arms, just hands growing out of his shoulders. I thought that was pretty abnormal.

What you believe does not constitue reality. As the United States government has not engaged in any acts genocide in nearly 150 years, it would certainly be abnormal for them to do so now.

Igor of "Young Frankenstein":

Yes, master, I got the brain of "Abbie Normal".

To me, being normal is simply growing up and living life naturally without fucking things up.

I think we Satanists are more normal than the herd.

The definition of normal in websters dictionary is extensive. but the first definition is 1: conforming to the standard or common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. and 2: serving to establish a standard. Hitler was attempting to make his personal ideas a standard for the masses to conform to. He was establishing a standard (no matter how deranged). The united states is killing thousands of people all the time. We are just told a minimal side of the story to make it seem in our best interest. So it must be normal to support a war for your country. Because it would be abnormal not to protest a money grubbing oil billionare spending lives in other countries for personal monetary gain. Also I wonder if we (being satanists) and recognizing ourselves as animals should not consider the occasional mass murder as natural an event as the occasional tsunami.

"Others opinions on what is normal/abnormal. "

For what purpose? All that they are is opinion. What do you care
what other's opinions are?

I think it boils down to what you are personally used too.

I agree with Ravenhael - I always thought my behaviour was abnormal, until I met other Satanists, and realised I am perfectly normal.

But I don't think that what the majority rules to be normal necessarily is. Let us not forget that the 'majority' does as it's told.

Do you remember being at home with your Mum and Dad before you started school? Everything made sense then. For me, we had a cat and a dog, a TV in the kitchen, 4 living grandparents, My Mum did a 'woman's job' (Nurse) and my Dad a 'man's job' (Policeman).

Everything was normal. Until I went to school and discovered that some people had no pets, no TV, Father a nurse or parents on benefits etc.

On a minor scale this ignorance before encountering other families shows 'normal'.

Does it stand to reason that Garith's armless wonder is abnormal? Not if we didn't know anything else.

I think abnormal in this sense is only what you are not accustomed to.

As far as Mass murder - I think it depends which side you are on. A lot of people forget that Hitler did not have special powers. He was voted into his position because of his beliefs, much like any other political leader. (Except that cheating, scamming Bush.)

If you watch a film, with say a jewellery heist. They'll make out the thieves to be the good guys and the owner of the loot to be 'evil' (By which I mean he'll have a scar and smoke cigarettes.) Which would be the other way around if it were a cop film. Does this mean being a thief is normal or acceptable?

To Hitler, he was getting rid of dead wood. Which I'm sure, after he explained it to his colleagues, seemed perfectly normal. But hindsight is wonderful.

Another example - Christianity. Is it normal for a person to have a delusional belief in a higher power? Apparently yes, if you are a Christian, but no if your higher power is Aliens. They find it perfectly normal to think their god is omnipresent and watches and judges they every move, but they'll throw a conspiracy nut into an cell and ridicule them.

Society is riddled with abnormalities people have got used to, and normalities they have shun through fear. Make up your own mind what is normal.

I think as with good and evil, Normal/Good you like, Abnormal/Evil is what you shouldn't like!

I'll take a different stance, just to be abnormal

I consider normal to be what is 'mainstream', what is common within the context of the society in which one resides. This being the case, I much prefer to be 'abnormal', though I am not usually one for labels. I consider abnormal to be a spark in the otherwise mediocre surroundings of society.

Not much to add I'm afraid, but thought I would say something as I found this thread quite stimulating......

What is considered normal/abnormal is culturally defined by time/place. (For example, What my parents considered 'normal' as UK citizens during the 1950s are not necessarily the same as what would be considered 'normal' in the UK in 2006).

What made me think was when I was studying for my Psychology A level a few years ago I wanted to do a coursework project on what is Sanity? This would have meant also looking at what is insanity? The arguments and line of thought on that one follow a very close parallel to the what is normal/abnormal debate - that is sanity tends to be defined by time and place, usually in the interests of those with power, or in the 'comfort' or 'security' of the herd.

Unfortunately I ran out of time and never got round to doing this particular project. It got replaced by one that was simpler and required less time (a case study in language development in young children, if I remember correctly), due to the time pressures of doing an A level over one acedemic year.