Overview

Abstract

The Tyranny of the Normal is the title of a book by literary critic and maverick, Leslie Fiedler. I often return to this phrase because of its dead on precision and inherent irony. I believe in order to really work with the other—anyone who is not like us in appearance, mind, and behavior—we need to look at who is doing the judging and labeling. It is imperative to resist the primitive urge to separate ourselves by labeling the other for our own safety and comfort if we are to have any hope of making a difference in another’s life. Current events in the world remind us that we all carry anger and blame toward what is not us. And if we are not in our rational mind for even a moment, then we might reveal a cautiously guarded contempt that stems from the primitive emotion of fear; for our primitive emotions are never far from the surface.

Our several senses … reach far beyond us. They’re an extension of the genetic chain that connects us to everyone who has ever lived; they bind us to other people and to animals, across time and country and happenstance.

—Ackerman, 1991, p. 308