Sarah Chaney (2022) Am I Normal? The 200-Year Search for Normal People (And Why They Don’t Exist).

Sarah Chaney asks in the Prologue (is a Prologue normal?) Am I Normal? ‘It seems like a straightforward enough question.’ Much the same as is it raining outside.  But rain is part of the seasons and weather system. Normal is a social construct. In other words, we make it up as we go along.

WEIRD people (that is, Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) in 2010 make up just 12% of the world’s population but 96% of subjects in psychology studies and 80% in medicine. That’s WEIRD. No surprise where our biases lie.

The average man doesn’t exist, but he gave birth to the average woman. Let’s call her Norma. 4000 women entered a competition to find the perfect all-American woman. Martha Skidmore came closest. Later, of course, there was the brunette that became the blonde bombshell, Norma Jean.

South Korea is the cosmetic capital of the world. Bleaching faces and skin is normal. There is always an obesity epidemic happening, usually in America where most people are clinically obese. The corollary of this is the billion dollar industries to keep people slim.  

‘What’s the opposite of normal?’

The Nazis offered solutions to that problem (below). No surprise that supporters of the moron’s moron Trump would have little difficulty placing others behind walls and barbed wire today.

In Nazi concentration camps, prisoners were forced to wear different coloured badges or stars on their uniforms. These badges were used to classify and identify prisoners based on their perceived "offenses," background, or the reason for their imprisonment. Below is a detailed outline of the types and colours of these badges, along with their corresponding "offenses."

Stanley Milgram’s experiment to test whether this deference to authority figures was just a German or Nazi national characteristic was unethical, but highly illuminating.

Elinor Rosenblum was paid $4 for her time in what was construed as 1963 study of memory. She was married and a university graduate, who helped with Girl Scouts. When instructed to apply electric shocks that could kill the volunteers, who’d screamed in pain, she complied. Sixty-five percent of normal people applied 450 volt shocks—Marked XXX on the machine—to those they believed were test subjects. This shocked America.

Notes:

Outline of Badges and Offenses:

1. Yellow Star:
   
   • Form: Two overlapping triangles forming a six-pointed Star of David.
   • Color: Yellow.
   • Offense: Jewish prisoners were forced to wear this symbol, marking them as Jews.
2. Red Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Red.
   • Offense: Political prisoners, including communists, socialists, trade unionists, and those opposing the Nazi regime.
3. Green Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Green.
   • Offense: "Professional criminals," including those who had committed crimes like theft or burglary.
4. Purple Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Purple.
   • Offense: Jehovah's Witnesses, who were persecuted for refusing military service and allegiance to the Nazi regime.
5. Pink Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Pink.
   • Offense: Homosexual men. Lesbian women were often categorized differently, under black triangles or red triangles if they were also political prisoners.
6. Black Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Black.
   • Offense: "Asocial" elements, including Romani people (Gypsies), mentally ill, homeless, alcoholics, and women considered "anti-social" (including lesbians, prostitutes, and those who did not conform to Nazi gender norms).
7. Brown Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Brown.
   • Offense: Romani people (Gypsies), although they were also sometimes categorized under black triangles.
8. Blue Triangle:
   
   • Form: Inverted triangle.
   • Color: Blue.
   • Offense: Foreign forced labourers and emigrants.
9. Double Triangle (Overlapping):
   
   • Form: Two overlapping triangles forming a Star of David, with the top triangle colored according to the "offense."
   • Color: Various combinations (e.g., red on yellow).
   • Offense: This was used to identify Jews who also fell into other categories (e.g., Jewish political prisoners).

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin's Books and Publication Dates

1. "On the Origin of Species" (1859)
   • Summary: This is Darwin's most famous work, where he introduced the theory of evolution by natural selection. It revolutionized the understanding of biology and the diversity of life.
2. "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex" (1871)
   • Summary: In this book, Darwin applied his theory of evolution to human beings, discussing how humans evolved from other species and the concept of sexual selection.
3. "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" (1872)
   • Summary: Darwin explored how emotions are expressed in humans and animals, arguing that many emotional expressions are universal and evolved from common ancestors.
4. "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication" (1868)
   • Summary: This work focused on artificial selection and the variability seen in domesticated species. Darwin used this to support his broader theories on natural selection.
5. "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs" (1842)
   • Summary: Darwin's work on coral reefs offered insights into the formation of atolls and the role of geological processes in shaping them.
6. "Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands" (1844)
   • Summary: Based on his observations during the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin discussed volcanic islands and their geological formation.
7. "Geological Observations on South America" (1846)
   • Summary: Another work stemming from his Beagle voyage, this book examined the geology of South America.
8. "The Power of Movement in Plants" (1880)
   • Summary: Co-authored with his son Francis Darwin, this book examined how plants move in response to environmental stimuli.
9. "The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms" (1881)
   • Summary: Darwin's final book, which focused on the role of earthworms in soil formation and ecosystem maintenance.

Key Figures in Creating a Moral Panic about Degeneracy and 'Failure of Natural Selection'

1. Francis Galton
   • Contributions: A cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton was a key figure in the development of eugenics. He believed that society was allowing the "unfit" to reproduce, leading to a decline in genetic quality. His ideas contributed significantly to the concept of degeneracy and the supposed failure of natural selection in modern society.
2. Herbert Spencer
   • Contributions: Spencer popularized the phrase "survival of the fittest," applying Darwinian principles to sociology and ethics. He argued that social welfare and charity might interfere with natural selection, allowing the "unfit" to survive and reproduce, thereby causing societal degeneration.
3. Max Nordau
   • Contributions: A cultural critic and social theorist, Nordau wrote "Degeneration" (1892), where he argued that modern society was in decline due to moral and cultural degeneracy. His work fuelled anxieties about the deterioration of the human race, linking it to the perceived failure of natural selection.
4. Cesare Lombroso
   • Contributions: An Italian criminologist, Lombroso theorized that criminal behavior was hereditary and that criminals were "degenerate" humans, less evolved and more primitive. His work contributed to the moral panic surrounding degeneracy and the fear of social decay.
5. Karl Pearson
   • Contributions: A mathematician and eugenicist, Pearson supported and expanded upon Galton's ideas. He believed that intelligence and other traits were hereditary and that society needed to prevent the "unfit" from reproducing to avoid degeneration.

These figures were instrumental in the development of social and scientific discourses that linked moral, cultural, and genetic degeneration to the failure of natural selection, leading to widespread moral panics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

William Corner, December 1899, fitness and unfitness in the field of active service for the British Empire during the Boer War.

In 1861, prospective soldiers were expected to measure up as five-foot eight. 1900, recruits had to be five-foot three.

During the Boer War, eugenic propagandist Arnold White compiled a report. He claimed in Manchester between 1899 and 1900, 11 000 men volunteered. 8000 men were rejected outright. 3000 were provisionally accepted. But only 1500 were enrolled in the army. Half of them did not have ‘the moderate standard of muscular power and chest measurement required by military authorities.’

Most were regarded as the ‘physical type of town-dweller: stunted, narrow-chested, easily wearied’.

In other words they were degenerate British stock. Their physical failure wasn’t of town or place but an innate failure to thrive that led to questions in Parliament about the implications of Darwinism. The poor not only acted poorly but became smaller and weaker on purpose. They failed to measure up.

Francis Galton and his followers, including the Nazis, had quite definite views on the links between health, disease and criminality that mirror the moron’s moron Trump’s.  The latter classifies himself as a ‘stable genius’, and claims he’s been tested. It’s difficult to argue with such innovatory polymaths.

During a White House press briefing on April 23, 2020, President Donald Trump suggested that disinfectants could be injected or ingested as a treatment to prevent or cure COVID-19. He speculated about the potential for disinfectants like bleach or isopropyl alcohol to be used in this way, asking whether there was a way to use such substances "by injection inside or almost a cleaning."

What is a Normal Mind?

The World Health Organization suggested around 2000 that one-in-four of ‘develop one or more mental or behavioural disorders’.

Chaney questions this statistic. It offers little proof other than tautologies based on class, race and gender (the big three, which means really just being very poor).

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/27/nhs-referrals-for-anxiety-in-children-more-than-double-pre-covid-levels-england

 

Exclusive: more than 500 children a day or one every three minutes are referred to mental health services in England

Is My Sex Life Normal?

Between 1885 and 1967, sex between men (consenting or not) was against the law in the United Kingdom. This continues in parts or the unWEIRD world.

Masturbation, similarly, was construed as a form of moral pollution. The solution for wankers was marriage and children, in that order. Anything less wasn’t normal. Chaney delves into the archives to consider the case of trans men who appeared at Bow Street Magistrate Court 28^th April 1879. They appeared to be ladies of good social standing. Yet their behaviour gave them away. They giggled, flirted and smoked. All the kinds of things Kenny Everett did on the telly in the 1970s, when he crossed and uncrossed his legs, while wearing ‘a cerise satin dress with an “open square body”’. Wink. Wink, but not wank, wank.

Husband were more worried about their wives failing to follow social conventions in post-war America. Hence the clitoridectomy to prevent masturbation and the continuance of sterilisation of poor women, particularly if they were black. Eugenics stayed behind closed doors.

In Britain in the 1980s, tabloids and magazines sold a laddish culture for women too. But scare stories suggest black women were at a higher risk of cervical cancer because they were innately more promiscuous. Chaney links this to staggering number (over 90%?) of rapist who get off. Females are ‘uniquely vulnerable’ to be judged for a crime men have committed.

Is this a normal way to feel?

‘After the second world war, the psychopath became more clearly defined, but also—surprisingly—harder to spot’ (unless he’s been elected American President).

James Fallon, for example, suggests there are two to three million psychopaths in North America. He includes himself in that category but not the ex-President. But he asks, can a brain scan, prove anything?

To a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail. Jon Ronson described a similar process while writing The Psychopathic Test. (I did measure as having some psychopathic traits. I guess most of us do?)

Are my Kids Normal?

Philip Larkin. ‘They fuck you up , your mum and dad.’

Harry Harlow’s primate experiment. Perfect for TV age. Orphaned, big-eyed baby monkeys. Half bottle fed from wire monkey. Half from wire monkey. S>R. You’d expect the wire-monkey babies to spend time with the wire monkey. Most spent time clinging to the cloth monkey, allowing us to anthropormorphise what we were seeing. Reinforced Bowlby’s attachment theory and bonding. Physical bonding was necessary for emotional bonding. Implications. All mothers were equal. If a mother went out to work she was depriving her child of natural growth argument. Dr Spock. ‘Mothers going to work had quite simply neglected the needs of her infant’.

Abnormal parent argument.

‘Labels are an easy thing to obtain but far harder to shake off.’

David Cameron made several speeches about single mothers. They should get off benefits and work, but they should also take care of their children? By hiring a nanny?

Is Society Normal?

Trump’s shit countries?

Nineteenth-century anthropologist Edward Burnett Tyler, not surprisingly, put Britain at the pinnacle of civilisation.

‘A general survey of the lower races shows that their selfish and malevolent tendencies are stronger in proportion to their unselfish and benevolent tendencies, than in higher grades of culture.’ 

Where does that put us? Read on.