In Praise of Normiedom
I defend nothing that can’t defend itself
Internet culture loves edgelords. Or at any rate, showers much attention on them. Every ideology, subculture, identitarian agitprop has them. They are the movers and shakers, the prime time of anti-news, the provocateurs of thoughts aspiring to be fresh.
Or are they?
In the gallows of social media, fresh now is stale in a day. Probably sooner. The medium is its own organism, pet of none, being of self-directed growth in all dimensions. If the conveyor belt is constantly churning out half attempts, what are its wheels made of? If all movements and societies are marked by the charismatic, the interesting, the men of the moment, who keeps them running?
Low profile, uninteresting points where the rubber meets the road. Normiedom. Not visibly heroic like Atlas lifting the world. But imagine Atlas as constituent of a magnitude of Lilliputians. Or Oompa Loompas running the Chocolate Factory. I do not mean this to be derogatory. I promised praise.
What normies bring to the table is stability. No sparks flying, no torches burning. Keeping stoves lit, until cremation. Staid is not, and never will be, stale. If Hollywood etc do not respect it, and build a culture of reckless behaviour around the shrine of Flash in the Pan, buying into the idea is certainly not avant-garde? Could it be that the much derided normie is the real Hero? No? Why, because the unexamined life is not worth living?
Maybe. Is the unlived life worth examining?
Internet allows for nearly endless, free flowing LARP. You can be anything you want to be! (2020 edition)
Virtual snakeskin identities and the dopamine hits do something else to the living. They pause life. Not in the sense that you won’t need to eat or sleep anymore (though we’re not too far from that), but that the natural urges of human dignity and consequent striving (a.k.a. growth) are put on a hold. Which is terrible for anyone under 30.
What is the relation of the edgelord to the normie? Normie lives, edgelord nitpicks until no life is possible. If one refuses to live his own life but insists on examining others’, that’s a spiritual cul-de-sac. It’s a fine looking high horse, it never leaves the stable.
So what? I don’t want to be boring
Then don’t be boring. But don’t try to be interesting either. Don’t try to be. ̶T̶r̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ live. Do the bare minimum that people in your age and era do. Whatever LARP you enjoy (we’re all human) is over and above the bare necessities of life. Don’t refuse to enjoy things you’ve always enjoyed for fear of being called normie by the unliving/undead on the internet. wth, even consume the media you want. The idea of criticism is not to avoid all the paraphernalia of being one’s age in this moment in time. The point is to not let the media consume you. And nothing much besides.
Is there no redemption for the extra-normal?
Didn’t say that. Normies hold the fort, the cool guys expand the kingdom.
Do the things that bring you joy and contentment. And the things that expand your thoughts and actions. Be on the lookout for the unusual and more depth. That’s just life.
