Dervish said
@Protagonist (I always thought that was a fairly clever user name for a roleplaying site, by the way) (also, I am on the phone. Typos other other fuck ups are going to happen)I'm going to have to disagree with your list being normal for a couple reasons. IQ tests, for instance, aren't a great way to determine someone's overall intelligence, because some people aren't geared towards that kind of intelligence or testing but may be brilliant in other areas. Case in point, I almost always need a pen and paper to do most math because I have a hard time keeping it together in my mind, but I excel at stuff like writing and sciences. Someone who may not be scholarly may be brilliant as a mechanic. An athlete can be brilliant at understanding sport related sciences, but struggles with social sciences. A musician may be able to pick up an instrument like it's nothing, but may not know how to read or write well, and so on. Point I'm trying to make is that intelligence covers a lot of different areas that don't fit nicely in an IQ test, and we're all set up differently. Likewise, most people have some kind of health condition or another, so is it really normal to have a clear bill of health if most people don't? And how many people fit cultural expectations perfectly? Everybody has something they do or like that's outside of the norm. I mean, you can be a socially awkward goth kid who collects knives but works a steady job, pays his or her bills, and drives an economy car. You can be a store manager who seems like a regular old mom but she collects discarded dolls and takes part in a sex club on weekends. You honestly never know what somebody's like unless you get to know them. Most people aren't cookie cutter bland, even if they appear that way from a casual glance. If you try to find people who are normal and discard anyone who deviates from what the rest of society does, you're going to come up very, very short.And why advocate deliberately trying to defy your culture? What if you're happy? What if defying just makes you miserable and accomplishes little? More sensible advice would be to do what you're happiest doing and don't let people tell you who you should be. You can still be unique and make choices for yourself without trying to be a rebel without a cause. Going against the grain just because it's not what the majority is doing just seems silly, and you're still letting society dictate how you live. It doesn't mean if your culture is doing something you disagree with you should go along with it, it just means that if you want to do something that's what society expects, why not?Doesn't make sense to try and define yourself by being what everyone isn't. If you want to take risks and strike out on your own, go for it! Just make sure it's what you want to do rather than just because you don't want to be like most people. That's silly.
mdk said
Aren't they jerks?