Why has it become wrong to be "normal"?

Why has it become wrong to be “normal”?

Democracy is now at the mercy of the rush to be different.

The media seems intent on making being “normal, or average, or as most others, or part of the majority,” into something to be avoided. The media has lauded dissent and being different, seemingly just for the sake of it, and makes being part of the majority almost a crime. It is not that the media in general praises genius or original thinking, it is praises anything that is unusual.

Definition of “normal”- regular, usual, common, typical. Constituting a standard.

Even politicians now seek novelty and look for a “unique selling point,” something that makes them stand out and not be like the majority. The media praises unusual vocal accomplishments rather than great skill and dedicated training. Political policy has to grab headlines; being sane, sensible and based on sound judgement no longer matters. The media focuses on the politicians hair style rather then the policies. The most mediocre talent in the graphic arts can get publicity, and so sales, from pretending to be outrageous. May be not pretending but dressing flamboyantly and making ridiculous statements get more “TV time” than being a great and skilled artist. Skill and hard work, both politically and artistically, have been down graded. What is necessary now is “celebrity,” some claim, however unsoundly based, to be newsworthy. Voicing an extreme political view in a sound bite, will get more notice than a reasoned and rational approach.

The left and even centrist left, have chosen to vilify all “normal” belief, as in majority or accepted, views. Political correctness, that construction of the centrist left as a means of bypassing the ballot box; is used to denigrate anyone who dares voice a popular opinion. That is popular within the definition of agreeing with the majority. The opponents of governance by the majority, claim their own views are “popular” but they actually are so arrogant that they only consider their own homogeneous groups to count, when assessing the popularity or merits of anything. This introvert and self serving assessment, leads them to have very different expectations from what is actually the whole real world situation, this gets shown up when a free, secret, general ballot is held. This is why in Britain there was such shock among the “Guardianista” fraternity, when Britain voted to leave the EU. They really did think that their own collection of like minded associates, was the entire electorate. Now they wish that it was. Some seem to be seeking to disenfranchise all who do not agree with themselves. The seek to do this by using “woke” statements, by “no plat-forming” opposing views, by “cancelling” the proponents of other view points. They use censorship of views they do not agree with, to pretend that these views are not available. This is the same tactic that was used by both Hitler and Stalin. Deny a viewpoint any chance of being heard, then claim it does not exist and then claim everyone agrees with them.

Why does the media in general, appear to go along with this? What happened to the majority being right? The media, for the most part but not all, is a slave to sensation. It demands controversy and instant headlines. It demands everything is reduced to the lowest possible level and any explanation must be in “Short Message Service” text. The editors and what few journalists still remain, have become lazy, they want to fill the front page with large type face, of less than 10 words. It does not appear to matter how misleading the headline is, as long as it can grab a few seconds attention. The TV journalists and their editors have joined in this denigration of their own skills. So many have become partisan, in their social and political views and so their work. They no longer seek fearlessly to explain realities and truth. They have become the puppets of the political party machines.

News is not generated by normality. Everything staying the same, is not going to sell newsprint or TV advertising space. The great majority of the population do not like change, especially change that is forced upon them. They do not like closure of their places of employment. They do not like the loss of long establish local amenities. They do not like being expected to change their life style to accommodate new people or new fashionable ideas. The media in general and the left political parties, especially while in opposition, want change and they want headline grabbing change. The problems arise when they believe their own minority views to be so wonderful that they try and impose them on the majority.

The media focuses on the unusual, the “new” in order to gain circulation but in doing so, they do a great disservice to the majority and they also mislead the minority into thinking their views must be universally accepted, since they are the centre of medial attention.

The result is the majority become the silent majority, whose views get no public expression, while the minority start to believe they are the majority, since no other views are getting published. This can be seen in politics, popular culture and in attitudes towards acceptable behaviour.

The ballot box has become the only expression of “normality,” of the majority view, of what should be regular, usual, common, typical and constituting a standard. We must guard the power, secrecy and validity, of that ballot box; or democracy will end.