On 'The Norm'

Oh no, what's that? Someone is living in a way or doing something that is outside of the supposed 'norm' of society? Scandal! You know what you must do, right? That's correct, act righteously outraged about it! Sew dissent amongst the community. Slander this person purely because their lifestyle choices are something that you're uncomfortable with! It's completely sensible, right? These people are just wrong!

The other night, Channel Seven news here in Australia ran the following news story.

Hurrah for non judgemental reporting, right?

Seriously though, what's the big deal? Why are we making a big fuss over what people choose to do to their own body? Their own body. The way I see it, nobody has any right to judge people for what they chose to do to their own body. It's their own decision. It's their body. It's their life. And, here's the thing about that. You can do pretty much whatever you want with it.

The people that chose to do this to themselves are not hurting anybody. They're not doing it as some sort of attention seeking cry. They're just people like I am, like you are. In the end, it's just a form of self expression, like a piece of art. The canvas, however, is their own body in these cases. More power to them.

Society tends to stereotype people that choose to express themselves in this way as 'freaks' or 'weirdos' and similar labels. I have met people like this, who view their body as a place to express themselves, and they have all been decent human beings. This is a lot more than I can say about many supposedly 'normal' folk I've met.

Actually, the comments on this video are probably evidence enough of how pleasant some 'normal' people can be. Check them out here. Oh but we are a close-minded, judgemental society Australia, aren't we?

The reality is though that procedures like this will become more and more commonplace as time goes on. Like it or not, it's here to stay. And why shouldn't it? If society can accept people getting face lifts and breast implants because there's a part of their body they want to change, why not this as well? When it all comes down to it, what's the difference?

There are bound to be arguments against this based on it being dangerous as well. In fact, the news anchor starts the story off saying that plastic surgeons even war it's potentially dangerous. All surgery carries with it a risk, cosmetic or otherwise. Like all surgeries, people would go into this fully aware of the dangers involved.

The arguments might use the customer interviewed in the news story as an example of the surgery gone wrong. His implants became infected and had to be removed. Again, this isn't unique to just this kind of surgery. There's plenty of examples of plastic surgery gone wrong. Even your basic piercings have a risk of infection. The surgeon they interviewed is right with his comments. However, let's not pretend that his comments apply for just these types of procedures.

And what a way to end the news piece. The reporter stating that it looks 'a little wrong'. Like it's his right to decide what looks 'right' and 'wrong'. While it's not something I'd consider doing to myself, I happen to think some of the outcomes look pretty cool. You don't like it? That's cool. Don't act like the whole world should feel the same as you though.

This is barely scratching the surface of the intolerance society seems to have for things outside 'The Norm'. There's a whole lot of other topics I could easily go into. In fact chances are I probably will in future posts as I throw in my view on different issues.

In the meantime, let's not judge people for the front they give to the world. Stop. Get to know the person. Don't assume you know why they do what they do. Don't think that just because they live differently there's something wrong with them. You might be surprised to find that they're just another person living their life, much like you are.