King of Normal: The Fruitless Battle to Define Normal
There is something I want to know.
If there are smart people in this world, I have something I really want to ask. I want to borrow your brains!!
"Who is the most normal person out of 7 billion people?"
I want to identify that person.
If I do that, a society of the normal, by the normal, and for the normal, centered around the King of Normal, will be realized.
Of course, I know how reckless and ridiculous that question is.
But I just had to find out.
So, I decided to start with a thought experiment.
It is an attempt to hold a championship around the world to decide the true normal.
I call it the "Normal Championship: King of Normal."
For now, I needed some events, so I prepared some things that represent the normal.
Event 1: Breakfast
This event is to decide the most "normal breakfast" in the world.
Japanese person: "Rice and miso soup!"
American: "Toast and coffee!"
Indian: "Curry!"
French person: "Croissant!"
Others are shouting things like "Sausage!", "Yogurt!", and "Salad!!"
The debate became chaotic.
"Bread is just emergency food!"
"No way, miso soup is the minor one!"
"In India, curry is obviously normal!"
"Croissants are art; this is what's normal!"
As a result, the argument continued endlessly, and no one was satisfied.
The final resort proposed there was a majority vote.
And the winner, chosen through overwhelming social media platform power, was America's "toast and coffee."
The Awards Ceremony and the Chaos
Thus, the "King of Normal" was decided. But its crown shone dully, crafted from the emptiness of a majority vote.
Standing on the podium were a single slice of buttered toast and a paper cup of coffee. The melting butter flowed slowly, as if refusing to take a fixed shape.
But at that moment!!
A voice shouted, "Wait a minute!"
"If it becomes number one, it's 'special'! That's not normal anymore!"
The venue fell silent.
Then, a child's voice was heard from the front row.
"I... I like miso soup and croissants too!"
Next, another voice shouted.
"I like curry and natto too!"
Before long, the audience began shouting out their own favorite breakfasts all at once.
Toast, oatmeal, bananas, sausages—the venue was engulfed in chaos. And finally, a chorus whose level of abstraction broke all limits began.
"Breakfast! Breakfast! Breakfast is the best!!!"
The event came to a close amidst a great chorus.
The "Normal" Seen by the Philosopher Foucault
What remains after the whirlwind of laughter subsides is a single question.
In the end, what is "normal"?
The French philosopher Michel Foucault said that "normal" is not something that exists naturally.
It is a norm created by power, and nothing more than a line drawn to control people.
In schools, children are divided into "normal kids" and "dropouts," and in hospitals, people are diagnosed as "normal" or "abnormal."
In this way, society uses the label of "normal" to provide comfort to some, while excluding those who fall outside its bounds.
Of course, just because "normal" is largely an illusion, it does not mean we can say that standards involving life and safety "don't need to be normal."
"Not normal" driving or "not normal" hygiene management puts people in danger.
However, many other forms of "normal" are merely words of comfort, and often nothing more than devices used to bind others.
The more we try to define "normal," the more it turns into a fruitless struggle, ultimately leading to nothingness.
It is like trying to find the boundary of a cloud.
Even if you feel it is somewhere, the moment you reach out, it changes shape and slips through your fingers.
Yet, people are drawn to "normal."
This is because "normal" is the comfort of not straying from the herd, the stability of escaping comparison, and the order that makes society predictable.
Everyone, deep down, likely desires a daily life where they can breathe easily rather than standing out too much.
In the end, humans have no choice but to live within their own respective niches.
Whether you think deeply or laugh shallowly, the answer you arrive at is the same.
And on to a new tournament
Thus, the "Normal Championship" came to a close.
If you stop the fighting, the King of Normal reverses to become "everyone is different, and everyone is good."