Lately, I have been wondering what it is to be "strange" or not.
As I am studying art, I come across some unique people, the conclusion of the average student being "Strange" people. It intrigued me to question myself what was the aspect "strange". What is strange and what is not? Can you be strange intentionally? Is being strange intentionally? Is it a manner of living, is it a characteristic element, or is it something that comes in percentages? Is it like "changing yourself to your environment" or is it more a thing that goes along?
I found out that people categorize anything they are not familiar as "strange". But is that really the thing of being strange? I know a lot of people that could be categorized as "strange", but seem to be normal to me. I am used to that. Are they still strange than?
My mind is a fuzz.
There are definitely unusual people out there, but I actually like it that way. Having all different kinds of people makes the world a better place to be (with a few exceptions, of course - psychopathic murderers probably don't make the world more exciting in a positive way. Haha.) The basic premise of humanistic psychology is that everyone has a natural self, and that they are happiest as they go towards it and don't try to stop themselves from being who they really are. There are, of course, some ways that this idea can be turned upside-down (again with the murderers,) but generally speaking, I think it's a great viewpoint to have about life. :)
Easily summarized: Differences of Opinion.
I agree mostly with WR on this one, but it's as simple as Heretic summarized. What's strange or unusual to one person, could be perfectly normal to someone else, so to answer your question; there is no correct or wrong answer, because everyone defines 'normal' as something different.
From my experience people usually label something as "strange" when they don't have a "proper" label for it. e.g. If you have somebody who doesn't really talk to people, you'd call them strange whereas they are actually unsocial and introverted. Strange feels like a placeholder for me.
Someone can be strange when their characteristics do not match the characteristics of the majority. It simply changes from culture to culture. Its basically just a matter of majority rule, the greatest average of characteristics shared among a group are considered "normal", and anything that is not is strange. Its all just relative, and matter of perspective. Given the right group of people, anyone in this world could be considered either strange or normal, its just a matter of who they are around.
Quote from: Blizzard on December 07, 2013, 07:35:44 am
From my experience people usually label something as "strange" when they don't have a "proper" label for it. e.g. If you have somebody who doesn't really talk to people, you'd call them strange whereas they are actually unsocial and introverted. Strange feels like a placeholder for me.
This. To me it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, so that young fellas can wear a suit and a tie and have a job.