For today’s Friday Faithfuls challenge we’re encouraged to write about what “normal” means to us. I am reminded of the opening phrase to one of the Project 2025 training videos. Mind you, I didn’t see the actual video, but listened to an episode of the podcast, The Ace Couple, walking the listener through it. The goal of the video was to educate Project 2025 supporters about the language leftists (and presumably anyone else not in agreement with their garbage) use and what we (yeah, I’m one of those pesky leftists!) supposedly mean.
The opening phrase was: “I’m just a normal American woman.” The speaker then went on to describe what she supposedly would be called by the Left. The exact wording, I can’t remember but it included “cisgendered” (her words, never mind that it’s “cisgender” without the “-ed” ending), “ethnoimperialist” (a term I’ve never heard of but then again I’m white and assume this is just a parody phrase to say she is too), probably “heterosexual” and “pronouns she/her”.
Now what’s “normal” about all this? Statistically speaking, being straight and cis (which means, for those not aware, that your gender assigned at birth aligns with your gender identity, so the opposite of trans) are indeed “normal”, in that the vast majority of the population falls within this category. White, globally speaking, definitely is not: the majority of the world’s population are BIPOC (Black/Brown, indigenous, or people of color).
I was also reminded of an open discussion I had several months ago with a temp worker who happens to be gay. We were discussing sexual and gender diversity and relating it to neurodiversity. The neurodiversity movement says that autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions are merely a variation of the norm, not a deviation from it. The difference is that variants are statistically less common but not less valuable, whereas deviants carry a connotation of “less than”. Autistic/neurodivergent people are different, not less in a similar way that people under the LGBTQ+ umbrella are different, not less.
Now I would like to say that no-one is “less” as a person. However, some human conditions, traits and behaviors are both abnormal and undesirable.
I do understand that what are considered “deviations” from the norm rather than mere variations, changes over time. Autism, commonly, is still seen as a disorder in need of a cure and there’s hardly any protection against discrimination based on it. Homosexuality, thankfully, not anymore. At least, not in the Netherlands. This doesn’t mean gays don’t face discrimination, but in that case, society sees that it’s the person being homophobic who’s in the wrong, not the gay person.
I am a strong supporter of both neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ rights, and a member of both communities, for clarity’s sake. Though I am white, I try to learn about race issues. I may not statistically speaking be “just a normal woman” and thank goodness in this era I’m not American. However, I am a human being and this means I deserve human rights.
A Multitude of Musings 
Republicans have made it embarrassing for Americans to admit that they are Americans, because the rest of the world doesn’t understand all of this bigotry and hatred that they are forcing on us. I agree with you Astrid that a variation of what some people see as being normal does not have to be a deviation from what normal is.
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Thanks so much for commenting. I don’t think there’s any need to feel embarrassed about being an American in itself. Thanks to the lame excuse for a human who’ll be in the Whitehouse again this January, I definitely think there’s a need to be ashamed of yourself if you’re a Republican though. I mean, the Republican Party, as much as I’ve always disagreed with it, used to respect the core values of the developed world. Not anymore. My comment about thankfully not being an American, however, referred to the fact that I’d probably not survive under Trump.
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A lot of people think that Republican conservative values are what the US needs, but when they are in office, they never balance the budget, and they put us further in debt with their bad policies and extravagant spending.
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Yes, indeed.
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I liked what you did here Astrid, where you took this post, you took it in a good direction!
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Thanks so much!
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What is normal?
It is whatever you are and as long as you are happy with who you are all is good
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Thanks so much for your kind words.
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I have always said that normal is boring. 😏
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LOL, so true. Thanks for stopping by.
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I like the way you worded it – different, not less. I think first of all, that we are ALL different for the most part… there is no “normal” so different is normal. It is truly frightening as an American now. I am disabled, mentally ill and aging… all three areas have been slammed and threatened by the incoming administration. I just have to hope that I am not shunned and left to struggle. I know there are a lot of “groups” of people who are concerned for good reason. It will be a difficult four years I fear. We all have the same heart, lungs and brain… if only everyone would use the last one with understanding instead of hate.
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Thanks for stopping by. I really hope you’ll find a way to make it through these upcoming years. I’m so grateful here in the Netherlands a government term lasts a maximum of four years, not four years by default. I mean of course in theory they too are elected for a four-year term but when the government collapses or the prime minister is forced to resign, new elections are issued and it’s more common that this happens mid-term than that the government makes it to four years. This being the case, I can always hope for a government collapse when I don’t like the party or person in office (which is the case here right now too).
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Sounds like a good system. I hope it straightens out soon.
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