Normal, to be or not to be

I postulate that just like everyone has a different set of fingerprints we also develop individually, that is everyone is in a different state of development or a different place literally than anyone else. Even if two people were in the same “phase” they would be at different points somewhere in the parameters. What this leads me to is that there is no normal except as a construct of a range of limits agreed upon and usually constructed by so called experts. An example of normality is the blood work done for physical exams. There is a range in which each tested category is considered normal and out side that range your doctor gets to charge you more for further testing. As an aside why do you suppose they keep lowering the acceptable range for such things as cholesterol and blood pressure? I say it is because they know that less and less people can fall into that range and they can charge for more tests and get you on some treatment program that requires scheduled maintenance and that will keep you as a regular customer coming back more often and spending more money.

Those type measurements are at least empirical in that they actually measure the level or amount of something definite. Where normal really gets weird is measuring some state of mind or mental or behavioral process. Once again standards are set by so called experts but these experts don't deal in empirical values. They deal in arbitrary concepts or constructs of someones imagination that have gained some following because they can now be used for labeling a targeted population in order to control and extract profit from them. The depressed come to mind in that one of the biggest money making schemes of all time is their treatment. I don't really know how they measure depression but it seems to me that one only need to believe one is depressed to be so. In fact it must be very easy to convince people they are depressed because of all the anti-depressant drugs dished out and the concomitant problems they cause as it seems all have warnings that feelings of suicide may be side effects of the drugs. How un-laughably funny is that? Even if you don't get suicidal you walk around in some state that is definitely not normal and are inducted into the parade of perpetual maintenance schemes. How much recreational use of these drugs is the real motivation behind getting them and their legality and ease of acquisition of course is another consideration?

Back to normal. That is the question. Normal, normal or maverick normal? Berserk make your on rules maverick normal is not for everybody but that's what I'll take because I like righteous defiance in the face of oppressive labeling and techniques of control. Run first ask questions later.

Prozac (made by Lilly)--consumer cost: $247.47 per 100 pills / active ingredient cost: 11 cents per 100 pills
Xanax (made by Pfizer)--consumer cost: $136.79 / active ingredient cost: 24 cents