A good question and may be there are many answers.
So, firstly what are some definitions of ‘normal’
Merriam Webster
Defined as
normal
1 of 2
nor·mal ˈnȯr-məl
Synonyms of normal
1
a
: conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern : characterized by that which is considered usual, typical, or routine
normal working hours
under normal circumstances
It was just a normal, average day.
He had a normal childhood.
Their reaction to the news was normal and expected.
The noise made it impossible to carry on a normal conversation.
Challenges are a normal part of life; remind yourself of that—and keep going.—Gabrielle Gayagoy
b
: according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, procedure, or principle
The normal spelling rule is “i before e, except after c.”
They filed the paperwork in the normal way.
The plane was able to make a normal approach and landing.
… is your home office either your principal place of work or a place where you meet with customers or clients in the normal course of business?—Rosalind Resnick and Susie Archer
2
: occurring naturally
normal immunity
Cornell researchers showed that monarch butterflies that fed on leaves dusted with pollen from this [genetically] modified corn grew less and had higher mortality than larvae that fed on leaves dusted with normal pollen.—Russell Schoch
3
a
: approximating the statistical average or norm
The west coast had normal rainfall for the season.
normal scores for the tenth grade algebra exam
a country’s normal death rate
Their insulin and blood sugar levels are within normal range.—Moises Velasquez-Manoff
b
: generally free from physical or mental impairment or dysfunction : exhibiting or marked by healthy or sound functioning
normal reflexes
Fifteen normal subjects and 40 asthmatics of variable severity were studied.—J. Bousquet et al.
However, my experience is that there are many, many normal people with no psychiatric illness who have music playing in their head almost all the time or all the time.—Keith W. Roach
c
: not exhibiting defect or irregularity
normal and malignant cells
a normal heart
d
: within a range considered safe, healthy, or optimal
normal blood pressure
normal lab tests
Whereas Cambridge Dictionary
Defines as
Meaning of normal in English
normal
adjective
UK /ˈnɔː.məl/ US /ˈnɔːr.məl/
Add to word list
A2
ordinary or usual; the same as would be expected:
a normal working day
Lively behaviour is normal for a four-year-old child.
It‘s normal for couples to argue now and then.
They were selling the goods at half the normal cost.
The temperature was above/below normal for the time of year.
Things are back to normal now that we’ve paid off all our debts. Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
normal
- normalTemperatures are well above normal today.
- usualI went to bed at my usual time.
- ordinaryThe magazine has stories about ordinary people rather than celebrities.
- standardIt’s standard practice for surgeons to wear gloves.
- naturalIt’s completely natural to feel anxious on your first day at a new school.
- typicalHe was a typical teenager – arguing with his parents and staying out late.
See more results » More examples SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
(Definition of normal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
normal | AMERICAN DICTIONARY
normal
adjective
US /ˈnɔr·məl/
normal adjective (NOT UNUSUAL)
Add to word list
ordinary or usual; as would be expected:
He seemed perfectly normal to me.
The temperature is above/below normal today.
normalization
noun [ U ] US/ˌnɔr·mə·ləˈzeɪ·ʃən, -lɑɪ-/
normal
noun [ C ]
US/ˈnɔr·məl/
normal noun [C] (LINE)
PHYSICS
a line that is perpendicular (= at an angle of 90 degrees) to a surface
(Definition of normal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
normal | BUSINESS ENGLISH
normal
adjective
UK /ˈnɔːməl/ US
Add to word list
usual, and what you would expect:
They were selling the good at half the normal price.
In normal circumstances, you should be able to decide this sort of thing without consulting your manager.
It is normal practice to refer such questions to the Board.
The day after the incident, everyone was back at work as normal.
(Definition of normal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
EXAMPLES of normal
normal
Indeed, the cases cover all possible normal purely negative 2-programs without virtual constraints.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This comment about ‘ returning to normal ageing ‘ is very interesting.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
After haemofiltration, which probably eliminated the excessive amount of triiodothyronine, cardiovascular as well as renal functions returned to normal.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The dancers returned because they could use it as a tool to formulate body actions which were outside their normal performance routines.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Therefore, by repeated application of the rules the input types are reduced to a normal form.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We find s by reducing t to normal form.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This was because of our discovery that in normal development, identical behaviour at two different ages could be sustained by very different underlying representations.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In the model, word final stops and fricatives were given weaker representations in the normal case to reflect their lower salience.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This case admits a specially simple normal form in which the low degree terms of the normal form can be replaced by coordinate functions.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In five out of six fish, sensitivity recovered to normal.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The author suggested that this animal might have recovered normal eye alignment.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
More recently the roles of specific genes in normal cardiogenesis been defined.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In the normal study condition, participants were told to concentrate and remember as many words as possible.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
She is supposed to represent herself (and write representations of) normal ways of behaving and thinking.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
So you would expect ‘normal’ to be always the same in similar circumstances, but over time normal can and does change and this could be due to influencers. These days we may believe that influencers are someting new with regards to social media influencers, but in reality there have always been influencers with those with assumed power who others have believed they should follow.
Influencers tend to have some form of power and this could be the power of strength, wealth, popularity and many others. But all forms of life, not just human are unique. We may to some degrees look similar, but in everyone there will be some differences, so why do many of us wish to be ‘normal’.
In some respects we believe there is some safety in being seen as normal, as if you are seen as abnormal then you could be subjected to some forms of discrimination and abuse. But who is to say that normal is right and abnormal may be wrong. Well here you are the effect of numbers, as normal would have more persons than say abnormal. But is all abnormal persons came together then the numbers could be nearer.
In normal we are lead to believe that the majority is right and the minority is not, but why as we could all be wrong and the minority could be right and the majority be wrong, so the power of the majority overcome the some power of the minority.
To a large extent Society in its many forms are to blame for the continuance of normality, until Society itself changes then so do some areas of normality, but perhaps not all areas of normality.
The above is considering normal within the majority, but we as individuals also have our own normality, maybe our own routines, what we eat and drink, what we wear, what we think and others and when we are not connecting with the majority we could just follow our own normals within our own areas say home because without others seeing we feel safe to do so.
But normal can be defined in areas, of class, religion, race, gender, disability and others and in many of these there are many that can’t be changed. But say in religion and race, but also in the others there is a great degree of discrimination and abuse, when effectively we are all humans and being humans should be the collective ‘norm’.
In this comes prejudice and prejudice can be very wrong in many ways and leads to many acts of discrimination and acts of violence in many areas of the world. People are entitled to their views and should be allowed to have them, but these views should not lead to acts of discrimination and violence.
Even normality can lead to prejudice so we all need to be aware of differnce and accept that difference should be acceptable even if it is not within our views of normal.
Explorers of tme of old believed their views were normal and so they went into the assumed unkown to discovery more about the unknown. However, in doing so they went with their own views and prejudices and when they came across the natives of these lands they tried to convert these natives to conform to the views and prejudices of the respective explorers and if these natives objected then they were brushed aside by capture or being killed. Many of these explorers would have been Christians, but in the process of exploring they failed to live by Christian principles and made sure their norms were to be the way forward at many times by force. When Christ said spread the word I am sure not at the expense of peoples lives, but the norms of the explorers were so consumed in them and they had no wish for their norms to be challenged.
It beggars belief how this lead Christians to endorse slavery because that would have been against Christian principles, but to counter this they just accepted that these natives were not humans, even though they were and treated them as wild animals and so caged them as they did with the wild animals they came across. It was even wrong with regards the animals, let alone the natives they encountered.
But even to this day there are some forces in America, a supposed Christian country, who would and do wish to bring back slavery as though slavery wasn’t abolished.
But, slavery while the old forms of slavery was abolished, slavery is still around and now termed as modern slavery, but slavery was wrong years ago and so is modern slavery but in many instances is courted as normal by some.
When normal is being viewed great care has to be taken to ensure, normal doesn’t become unlawful for it is in some communities and countries.
Why can’t we dispense with normal and just accept what is there, provided it is lawful, as no one should dictate to others what normal is as normal should be an individual view and not Society’s.
Live and let live and respect human rights.
61chrissterry 