I am normal

Surely we are very suspicious of anyone claiming to be ‘normal’. Appeal to our desire to seem normal is meant to be persuasive: ‘Put your litter in the bin – others do’. But we are also cajoled by advertisers to be different ‘Stand out from the crowd – buy a car.’

R. D. Lang pointed out that “our normal, adjusted state is too often the abdication of ecstasy, the betrayal of our true personalities.”

Eccentrics can be self-centred bores or they can be imaginative geniuses. Take William Blake – you wouldn’t find him proudly displaying a sign saying he was normal.  

The chap in the picture is clearly odd, for a start he has over-sized hands, feet and bow-tie. Dressed in 18^th century garb, he must be a character from a movie – I don’t know which.  On the sole of his left foot it says ‘Made in China’.