What is Normal?
I had an interesting insight during the course of a conversation. I was talking to a colleague of mine who had returned from onsite. We were discussing about his experiences in London as he had low comfortable levels with Anglo food (of course even I can't accustom to other cusines on a regular basis).I inquired about a fellow colleague who is currently in London and his acquaintance with discos and pubs.
He said that the person goes to pubs but doesn't drink. I quipped "What ?, He doesn't drink , is it?”For a while I thought that the concerned person had relinquished drinking, how nice. I was interrupted “He drinks only beer" .I was taken back, I asked "When did they classify drinking beer not to be apart of boozing?”. I was at least confident that the chemical laboratories would accede that most of the beers contains 5% alcohol. He said “drinking beer is no more a part of boozing by the current standards”. I needed no consensus.
I started relating this incident to similar norms which changed as we moved across various timelines. It took long time to scientifically substantiate that gulping egg would not create hindrance to the tag of vegetarians who could not resist eggs. People now accept it a norm to breach signals even if red greeted them, they don't understand that accidents don't happen every day and when it happens a life may be lost. It's like, we have started to accept that half nudes are no more extreme taboo in current bollywood films.
I started relating this incident to similar norms which changed as we moved across various timelines. It took long time to scientifically substantiate that gulping egg would not create hindrance to the tag of vegetarians who could not resist eggs. People now accept it a norm to breach signals even if red greeted them, they don't understand that accidents don't happen every day and when it happens a life may be lost. It's like, we have started to accept that half nudes are no more extreme taboo in current bollywood films.
It’s more like fashion or music, what is accepted by most people becomes the norm or common experience then. It is a vicious circle, we seek change as we strive for it, change creates change as we observe and experience it. Change which becomes the norm, generally reflects the tone of the society which has its own boundaries defined by ideologies.
There are norms which change and stare a full circle. There are changes which can neither be revoked nor be neglected. Just like the way nuclear families are more a way of life now while erst while Indian society believed in joint family system. It is how families are bound to be in the current context. There are changes which die out as time passes, people may absorb it initially as it surfaces but it loses its charm as time moves.
Fine, it is accepted that the society defines norms at various stages although the norm is fluid by itself. What is right or wrong now need not apply to other timelines as the context changes. Fashion or Music does not make a big impact in the societal setup. There are certain dangerous norms which fragment the harmony in the society.
The ancient Indian society had a disgusting norm in the name of caste (I would want to explore in depth on this in a later post).Everybody was assigned a social status based on their birth and the society defined their occupational role as well. It later showed it ugly face in the name of social discrimination within humans.
Now there is another popular trend which is catching up, people have changed the norms to evaluate people. It is a blatant truth, the modern society evaluates fellow humans by salary packs, asset backings, bank balance, profession, designation, social infleuence, power and character may find a place somewhere.
As a person who needs to be recognized by the society, it’s now a norm that the person needs to earn hefty packages and pay EMI's for all the investments (flats, cars, electronic goods & fashion accessories) to earn a better social status. Don’t even think of investing in people or character, it would become a norm to refer to them in novels as we go forward.
I don't know how better we are than the people who created the caste system. We endlessly create norms in the name of caste, ethnicity, religion, belief, money, lifestyle, intellect, qualification or any tool we want to discriminate people.
Society finds a norm now and then; it is certainly a way of life. Music or fashion as a norm doesn't really disrupt the society. Think what would happen if people accept money as the major norm of life. If this creates so much havoc, think of the other norms which have been created in the society and impact of creating them as well.
As i leave the post, think about this
who decides what is norm and why ?
I somehow feel that discrimination is quintessentail in a large human settlement..after all discrimination is the only way identity gets preserved...i think what u are feeling angst abt is the fluidity of the discrimination..in a sense the freedom for an individual to move amongst different identities and discriminations without being typecast...by the way i recommend that u read amartya sen's book 'Identity and violence' and his essay on 'The Indian Identity'..would really make interesting reading i guess...
Posted by
Sudarshan |
8:20 pm
I agree identification is part and parcel of the society and an inherent nature of the human mind to discriminate ourselves(differentiate or die).I am not worried abt factors that emancipate the society, I am worried abt factors that make life worse.
Thanks for the suggestion yaar, I'll catch up with Sen this weekend
Posted by
Sara |
10:20 pm