Very true. I always felt society, especially in public school, wanted to shove me in a box. I tried, but in high school I began to see that box was more of a coffin and the harder I tried to fit the worse I felt, both emotionally and physically.
I’m still working on me, dealing with years of repressed self, trauma, and anxiety, but as I do, I’m discovering that my ‘weird’ is beautiful and have come to frequently quip, “I may be weird, even a bit crazy, but it could be worse... I could be boring.”
The Cheshire Cat said it best... we are all mad here! Maybe it’s time we, as a society, embraced that.
love this post! Your critique against the suffocating nature of "norms" reminded me of the Italian theorist, Antonio Gramsci and his idea of "cultural hegemony." In a sentence, it's the idea that the elite of any given society cannot control the masses through force alone (especially if it is a "democratic" state), and so they must control society through more subtle means--through ideology. The beliefs and visions of the ruling class thus become the *expected* way of thinking about society, and to not conform to this way is to thus be punished, either by having your opinion invalidated or simply dismissed as absurd.
i also thought about Franz Kafka's short story, the trial. I think the situation is the same: josef wakes up one day to find that he is condemned--but no matter how hard he searches for answers, no answer is ever given to him. I interpret this as Kafka's way of expressing a similar sentiment as Gramsci's: society somehow punishes its own inhabitants, and there is no reason ever given. It is just what society does 😮🧐🧐🧐
Hooray! Shifra’s back with us screaming truth. I can’t remember what Gramsci or the Cheshire Cat (the cat is right) but I know about not being normal. I remember being told, in the third week of my Masters course, I was ‘off on a hobby horse’ as soon as I dared to rephrase the way I understood the world. It gets better—this casting of judgement— but you might have to wait until your in your 6th decade when you regally do stop caring! I have found the trick is to follow the rules of normalcy just enough and always practice how to escape them. It keeps the mind and soul free and flexible! xxx
Very true. I always felt society, especially in public school, wanted to shove me in a box. I tried, but in high school I began to see that box was more of a coffin and the harder I tried to fit the worse I felt, both emotionally and physically.
I’m still working on me, dealing with years of repressed self, trauma, and anxiety, but as I do, I’m discovering that my ‘weird’ is beautiful and have come to frequently quip, “I may be weird, even a bit crazy, but it could be worse... I could be boring.”
The Cheshire Cat said it best... we are all mad here! Maybe it’s time we, as a society, embraced that.
love this post! Your critique against the suffocating nature of "norms" reminded me of the Italian theorist, Antonio Gramsci and his idea of "cultural hegemony." In a sentence, it's the idea that the elite of any given society cannot control the masses through force alone (especially if it is a "democratic" state), and so they must control society through more subtle means--through ideology. The beliefs and visions of the ruling class thus become the *expected* way of thinking about society, and to not conform to this way is to thus be punished, either by having your opinion invalidated or simply dismissed as absurd.
i also thought about Franz Kafka's short story, the trial. I think the situation is the same: josef wakes up one day to find that he is condemned--but no matter how hard he searches for answers, no answer is ever given to him. I interpret this as Kafka's way of expressing a similar sentiment as Gramsci's: society somehow punishes its own inhabitants, and there is no reason ever given. It is just what society does 😮🧐🧐🧐
So glad to see you writing again, Shifra!
Hooray! Shifra’s back with us screaming truth. I can’t remember what Gramsci or the Cheshire Cat (the cat is right) but I know about not being normal. I remember being told, in the third week of my Masters course, I was ‘off on a hobby horse’ as soon as I dared to rephrase the way I understood the world. It gets better—this casting of judgement— but you might have to wait until your in your 6th decade when you regally do stop caring! I have found the trick is to follow the rules of normalcy just enough and always practice how to escape them. It keeps the mind and soul free and flexible! xxx
Great post Shifra. I often think we are becoming abnormal,driven by our desire to be normal and fueled by social media