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THE SOCIETY I LIVE IN


I live in a society whereby the line between normal vs abnormal is completely distorted or otherwise subjective (based on the majority’s judgement). My society has made stating facts such as; I am a virgin, I am celibate till marriage or I don’t drink alcohol to be shunned upon and more often than not it’s taken to be a 'gesir'. The majority are thus taken to be normal but the ones who choose not to conform to societal norms are taken to be abnormal.

This is kinda like the way we make a diagnosis of delusional disorder which is characterized by delusions, fixed false beliefs that involve situations that could potentially occur in real life such as being followed or poisoned. These delusions also occur to almost everyone on their day to day basis and they include: Erotomanic delusion-delusion that another person is in love with the individual- how many people have misread signals from a crush or another person that they have feelings for them; Grandiose type- delusion of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity or believes themselves to be a famous person- how many times have Pastors said in churches you are who you think you are and that by thinking you are rich then so are you, despite the fact you can’t even afford a meal at ‘comrades’ eating joint; Jealous type- delusion that the individual’s sexual partner is unfaithful when it is untrue- this is actually self-explanatory; Persecutory type- belief that ones life is in danger.

Therefore, if it was the case of classifying disorder according to where the majority fell, then most of us should be classified with delusional disorder as being normal and the remaining who don’t experience delusions as abnormal. The rule of the majority is what is often articulated, in that; the youth drink then all normal youth are supposed to drink. We are then all classified in a box with statements such as ‘these generation is’ and thus so labels e.g. ‘black sheep’, imbecile child, stupid child, failure, drunkard, are stated till at times we subconsciously decide to own them despite our differentiation.

The absurdity of life is that the line between normal vs abnormal should not even exist, it is overrated so follow your path and run your race at your pace.


gesir - a French word for lie
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