Society And The Rest Of Us

I started this essay between six and seven years ago, but I never finished it. The time has come, even though the slant now may be different from what I originally intended. I've edited it to conform to my current philosophy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Someone repeats the same sentence several times. He is getting older and his children are tired of hearing him. What's to be done? Perhaps the affliction is pathological and requires a remedy.

A man goes around the room straightening every picture – some only a millimeter or two off his mark. He has obsessive-compulsive disorder. It clearly abnormal. Everyone agrees he needs to be treated.

A child looks out the window every time a teacher starts speaking. It must be attention-deficit disorder. Such a problem is clearly detrimental, and the proper medicines and counseling must be instituted to alter this behavior.

A woman talks incessantly, not leaving an opening for anyone else to talk, and apparently unaware of what anyone else has to say. Though irritating, it's normal and requires no professional intervention, although someone may say something.

No, this isn't a misogynistic or any other type of rant. My target, rather, is the way we set standards of what is normal and what isn't. I'm a little put out by the way we decide what falls outside the range of the acceptable, in speech and in behavior, and what we should – or is it what we can – tolerate. I'm concerned because I view our standards as being based on politics or some kind of imagined correctness and not on any objective criteria.

Let me give an example: A “pin-up” calendar in a men's locker room would be viewed as provocative and unacceptable, while lush wallpaper in a ladies' lounge, wallpaper that includes images of virile Greek gods, would not merit mention. How this attitude entered our society isn't clear, but there are many men, in addition to women, who agree with the view. Somewhere along the line society has conditioned us as to what's acceptable and what's not.

So our comfort is what counts, and the man with OCD needs treatment because it's bothersome to others – not necessarily to himself. And it's easier to diagnose a child as having ADD, and possibly put him on drugs, than to look for any other reason for his behavior. Perhaps the elderly individual who cannot remember what he said would benefit from therapy, but the problem is most striking to the listener, not to the one repeating himself – though he may be judged by the courts to be incapable of making decisions and forced to undergo therapy that others choose.

Most of the problems for which we have devised solutions derive from what society has taught us. And society's dictates vary from time to time. To the point that we no longer accept the Constitution of our country as it was written. Extensive interpretation is necessary. Free speech is nice unless it offends someone. And if it bothers someone we've designated as a member of an “oppressed” group it may constitute hate speech. “This is your punishment for deviating from the Bible. I pray that you are forgiven.” Though the speaker may sincerely wish for the benefit of the person he is addressing, said to a homosexual it constitutes deplorable hate speech. The concepts of free speech and freedom of religion, and religious views, are less important than the feelings of the listener. (Often it is a non-involved party whom it offends more than the one to whom it was directed. No one will find it offensive if somebody accuses you of being a gun supporter, though it may be accompanied) by more hate than the biblical remark.)

And words that were perfectly acceptable in the past are no longer to be used. Euphemisms must be substituted. A child who was once said to be retarded is now “special.” But if everyone knows what the euphemisms mean, they're no different from the words they replace. Except to the “sensitive” among us. Meanwhile other words, anatomical designations or expletives once forbidden in public discourse, are used freely and without disapproval.

There's no solution to the problem. Some people will insist that only the way they speak is acceptable, and those who disagree should be silenced. But, as Benjamin Franklin said, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Or, in the words of George Orwell, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” The freedom to express ourselves any way we want is paramount (although those who see their nation's flag burned, or who see Nazis protected by the government while marching through the streets may want their representatives to revisit the issue). And our behavior as well. Forcing us to obey the rules of the intolerant is contrary to any ideas of freedom. Making us fit into societal norms is tyranny.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I said then, and I still believe that what we say and what we do (as long as we're not physically harming others) is our own business and should be protected by society, not controlled by it. Limitations on free speech are only rarely justified, and such action should be taken only after careful consideration of the consequences. As for forced, or pressured, therapy, we went through the tragedy of eugenics early in the last century, and we should know by now that no one should be treated for any real or imagined disease unless he chooses to be.

The United States was founded with the intent of offering freedom. Destroying that freedom in order to soothe the majority must not be tolerated.






February 9, 2017