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You don't wanna be normal

Mark blogged a SubGenius rant byt Nenslo called "Act Normal," originally publsihed in '94. Here's the quote I like &ndash it's zenful:

I don't wish it to be thought that "Normal" thinking is essentially a bad thing. Very few people actually require an open mind or the ability to reason in the course of their everyday lives. A donut-shop cashier does not need to consider the ethics of selling blobs of greasy dough, and a philosophical and ethical outlook would be an outright detriment to a nuclear warhead assembly plant worker or oil-company lawyer. It is vital for most people to continue to act "Normal." Without such behavior the wheels of commerce and progress would grind to a halt. The excesses which make life in this modern world so simple for those who are free from the confining systems of dissatisfaction and complaint would suddenly cease to be. Without the ridiculously expensive and painfully loud car stereos, the mindless repetition of pop-song lustmongery, elaborate hairdos, huge jewelry and ten-thousand-dollar wristwatches dangling before the sleepwalking hordes there would be no cheap crummy apartments, discarded art supplies, inexpensive healthfood, or good secondhand clothing.

For the most part, the existence of "Normal" behavior is a good thing for those who require nothing more. But for people who care about things or think about things, who examine their lives and their place in the world, acting "Normal" is insanity, a trap which leads to constant dissatisfaction and eventual destruction. Acting "Normal" for such people is hating, complaining, finding fault, holding grudges, being afraid, and limiting themselves to the small world of everyday existence, the world even "Normal" people pay most of their money to escape from by buying distractions, or getting loaded and laid as much as they can before they die.

jon posted this at 9:48 AM
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