8/3/2019 The Advocate Normal Disorder

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OPINION

April 18, 20074

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The AdvocateBY Robert Moran

Normal is a disorder like noother.

In my never-ending quest todiscover what normal really is,I began searching for the wordnormal on Google. Although Iwas under the impression that nosuch thing as normal existed, Icame across a Web site created by Jared Blackburn who wrote thediagnostic criteria for NormalDisorder.

Here is Blackburns criteriafor Normal Disorder, which mayinclude any combination of thefollowing symptoms:

Egocentrism:- e failure to realize that

people have different perspec-tives.

- Acts as if more importantthan others.

- Greed or a domineering andbossy attitude.

Lack of Originality:- Rigidly follows traditions or

social rituals.- Faddish, often follows the

latest fashion craze.- oughtlessly follows a so-

cial reference or a local group of

friends (i.e. peer pressure).Lack of Sympathy:- Cruel or callous towards the

feelings of others (i.e. ridiculingand teasing).

- Often uses others to meetown goals. Treats others as ob-jects. Uses dishonesty as a meansfor social advancement.

At this point I could not holdback my laughter. I realized thatit was a parody of the DSM-IVsdiagnostic criteria for Aspergers Idescribed in my first column.

I continued reading Black-burns description, Normal dis-order is frighteningly common.

Normal disorder starts at ayoung age. As children they are

often aggressive and cruel be-lieve they must have the latest toyfrom a commercial, or wear thelatest fashion.

Blackburn said Normal chil-dren also have trouble with theuse of pronouns and will call ev-erything mine. Staring at a TVwas a common behavior.

He wrote that it may be nec-essary to avoid contradicting thenormal behavior, as normal peo-ple are likely to show aggressionto those who refuse to followtheir norms.

Blackburn also suggests thatpeople with Normal Disordermay also be highly successfulpoliticians being quite commonamong the population. FinallyBlackburn ends with a note of warning: ... the egocentrism,poor insight and narrow stan-dards of acceptability may makethe person with Normal Person-ality dangerous to others in thecommunity, being particularlythreatening to those who are notthemselves Normal.

After reading Blackburns par-ody I could not help but laughat the irony. Normal people callpeople with Aspergers odd andeccentric. To any Normal per-son I might seem strange or ec-centric, but in reality Aspies areunique and individualistic.

We are different, yet we arevery much the same. Too badtheres nothing unique about be-ing normal. I choose to be dif-ferent and accept my differencesand the differences of others.

Some of you might want toridicule me, but you have a dis-order too.

Normal DisorderBY JENN BROWN

Daily Titan Staff Writer

opinion@dailytitan.com

How can you tell when someoneis going to crack?

Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-oldVirginia Tech senior who is allegedlyresponsible for the shootings thatoccurred Monday, was described asa loner, troubled and quiet bysources in an article by the Associ-ated Press. ere are loners in everycommunity, but most people dontexpect them to pick up a gun andtry to massacre as many people aspossible for no apparent reason. Sowhy did this guy?

Weve all seen someone who is alittle off. A little creepy, a little tooquiet, into weird things. Maybe hesits in the back of your class, or may-be she always sits in your favoritecoffee shop, alone. What does it taketo make him or her buy a Glock andturn your classroom or coffee shopinto the next big news event?

e AP reports that Seung-Hui was taking antidepressants, but soare millions of Americans. ey alsoreported that troubling behaviorhad escalated recently to include

stalking women and setting fire to adorm room. e warning bells weresounded, but they were ignored. Didnobody care? Did nobody notice? Orwere all the clues that are so easy toput together after the fact not sharedwith the people who are supposed toprotect us?

When Sueng-Huis writingalarmed a creative writing teacher,no action was taken. e chairwom-an of Virginia Techs English De-partment was quoted by the AP assaying: Were all alert not to ignorethings like this.

But it seems that is exactly whathappened. Sueng-Huis writing and

violent behavior was largely ignored.Did the creative writing teacherthink of informing the campuspolice that there was a potentiallyviolent student on campus? No, shesent him to the counseling office, ac-cording to the AP.

Its natural to have faith in people.Most want to believe that peopleare inherently good. But enoughcampus shootings have occurred inrecent years to tell us that this is notalways the case.

Its difficult to assume that peopleare capable of violence. Nobody wants to think every person whodoesnt paste on a smile and act likeeverything is fine is going to go on arampage. But it happens.

Caution is what students, facultyand staff at any campus must em-ploy to prevent events like this fromhappening. Red-flagging dangerousbehavior and informing the appro-priate authorities is a necessity.

Unfortunately theres no man-ual on how to find the next crazedgunman. eres no clear way to

differentiate eccentric from danger-ous. And when warning signs arentshared with the people who need toknow that there is a potential fordangerous behavior, the worst pos-sible outcome can occur.

Unfortunately for the studentsand faculty of Virginia Tech, it did.

Hindsight is painfulwhen warning signs seemblatently evident

We Like To ink We Can

Prevent Tragedy, But We Cant

We all have problems. We all have moments

where we feel the world iscrashing down upon us.

We all have days wherethe overcast morning skysummates our stay in bedto avoid dealing with thedaily challenges life tossesour way.

College is onerous on allof us as we are challengedwith hard work while mak-ing major decisions that willaffect us for the rest of ourlives. Some people are ableto deal with them betterthan others.

Its clear that Cho Seung-Hui had his problems problems that manifestedinto demons.

A day removed fromthe carnage, we know thatSeung-Hui was unabashedin expressing his problemsthrough his writing. A playhe had written for a classincluded horrific details ofstalking, murder, molesta-

tion and other dark ele-ments.

No one knew for surewhether the college studentwas destined to be the nextStephen King or a namedestined to live on in infa-my but the smoke signalswere there for sure.

at said, we know now

that his writings were, atleast to some extent, a cryfor help. e student, de-scribed as an introvert, waswilling to part the curtainsof his personality and letthis dark side shine ontoothers. And whatever ac-tions were taken in light ofhis revelations were clearlynot enough.

e moral of the story? Ifyou feel like this, or know ofsomeone that might, a pro-active approach is the onlysolution. God only knows whether or not some sortof intervention might havebeen able to avert this trag-edy, but it should at leastprompt us to take actionso that the quiet ones havesomewhere a caring ear to-hear their voice as well.

Cal State Fullerton hasamenities for those in needof help, available at the Stu-dent Health and Counsel-ing Center. ere is coun-seling available for groups,

couples and individuals inneed of someone to talkto. If you or someone youknow might benefit fromthese services, dont hesitateto take action.

e Student Health Cen-ter can be contacted at (714)278-2821.