humankind

truth
From the perspective of the environment mankind is a veritable cancer. No doubt about that. And it is condoned in our Christian culture with the biblical instruction to dominate the physical world and its life forms. When we use the word, humane, I'm forced to smile ironically. Only humans carry grudges, plan homicides, take grissley revenge, exploit others, and rationalize--even glorify--our atrocities. Carry on Individual. By the way, the ethnic-class system of Mexico is also ghastly, grinding people into carriers of fetid resentment and shame.

Yottos, The problem with trying to define "normal" is by who's standard? The standard of which society?

truth
Yottos, don't let me get you down. I'm a humanist, and that makes me more prone to disappointment regarding the frailties of humankind. But I also am willing--as a humanist--to give credit to mankind for her achievements rather than giving the credit to God or gods.
I would address your question, but I can't understand it. Could you be more specific?

truth
There you go, C.I. that's what I should have asked.

Sorry to be the first to tell you this Nobody, but most mammals hold grudges and take revenge. As for planned homicide, ants come pretty damn close.
Glorificaton of our atrocities is the only ugly idea that is definitely not animal.

truth
Individual, well two out of five isn't so bad. Thanks for the qualifications.
Yottos, I'm still a bit confused. By "normal" are you referring to conventional members of a society, people who are clinically healthy or sane, or statistically the most common in some respect?

That is what I was asking.

Nobody is ever the 'normal' group unless a controlled study of just one value in society is measured. But then we are all normal in at least one study.

All women are normal because the world is roughly 51% female.

Individual, Even when speaking only of physical standards, what is the basis of "normal?" Height, weight, facial features, size of breast, color (of skin, hair, eyes), psychological makeup, cultural and environmental impacts on the individual, and some with both sex organs. What's normal?

What i'm saying is that it doesn't matter, we will always find something (and it can be just one thing) that we use to alienate ourselves.

What Edgar said.

What Edgar said.

truth
This discussion is out of control. I don't understand most of it. By the way the size of the average family in Patagonia is four and a half. And every family is barely coping with their little half-pint monster.

Normal is the condition we all like to believe we are a part of (at times). It is a club where we believe we are accepted, liked, befriended, a part of the mass, secure, a place that we are taught the accepted behaviors to continue to be a part of the group. You see we are quite like sheep in one regard - we feel safe in a group, we are naturally emotional creatures that need each other for our fragile psyches to be maintained. Rarely will a person shun all human contact and desire to be completely alone. In a sense that is not the "norm" - the norm being "conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern, common, commonplace, customary, natural, prevalent, regular, typic, typical, usual". Y'see I looked up the word in various dictionaries and I found one translation that I liked ... normal is "average". We humans are lots of individuals placed on a planet and made up of various and many group-types. In each of those groups there is an average agreement of how behaviors and appearances should be. There can be one extreme to another and there are generally accepted levels - it is somewhere in the middle (the average) that becomes the way. This can differentiate from one country to another or even from one street to another, one household to another. The variety of these groups are so diverse and multi-layered that it becomes difficult to pin down what the accepted "norm" really is. It shifts and changes from time to time and people flow back and forth to meet it and to cross it when their emotions, age, opinions, learnings and other factors kick in.

There is no mystical "society" that makes rules and regulations about what is right and wrong. It is us, the masses, that make-up this "society" and influence what will and will not be criticized and accepted. WE are doing this to OURSELVES. Let's not blame other faceless or even non-faceless people and say they are doing this to me or I am treated differently because I am not like everyone else. Those who are happy to stay within the realm of normalness are relatively unfazed or bothered with how things go. They get excited now and again with a thing or two and balk at various issues but generally are happy to plod along. Others, MANY others are constantly testing the limits, forging ahead into regions others find strange or too challenging. Is this normal? Is it abnormal? It is neither. Normal is a realm that is a guideline is all. It's a sample, an idea, a generalization. It is average. There are so many of us that are above and below this average. None of which are bad. Normal is a phrase used by people when they are describing something out of the ordinary, something unusual, something that does not happen in an "average" day.

Isn't it then nice to know that you are not just an "average" person?

Okay, Heeven, Give us a definition of "average."

OMG CI I am going to have to hurt you! It's like the kid that keeps saying "but why ...."