(no subject)

I had to cross-post what I said in reality_review, if only to get opinions (or possibly, sarcastic throw-aways.)

"Jews are niggardly. Everyone knows that. They should change the word to Jewardly."

Am I a bad person because I laughed?

Transexxuals, Wannabe-Amputees and Furries...(Oh, my!)

So I've recently seen a couple of people bashing otherkin/furries. (They get thrown together a lot, so I will just talk about furries from this point on.) Now this really ruffled my fur at first. And I'd like to get into the immediacy and intensity of my reaction to that. But not right now. There's some other things I'd like to talk about first. This might get rambly, just a warning.

Someone referred to otherkin as a "psychological perversion." They also clarified that "perversion" is not a bad thing. Which is good, although certainly not everyone thinks this way...and we tend to get lost in what we think language means, not what it really means. I'm pretty guilty of that, as well, since I took the "perversion" comment as an insult.

The definition of a perversion is: A sexual practice or act considered abnormal or deviant.

Since I think it is often difficult to determine exactly WHAT is a sexual act, I would leave that out.

So a perversion is something abnormal or deviant.

Abnormal: Not typical, usual, or regular; not normal; deviant.
Deviant: Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society.

So, by that definition:

- being furry is a perversion
- being gay is a perversion
- liking banana-and-chocolate-syrup sandwiches is one of the most disgusting perversions known to mankind. (Okay, I admit my bias...)

Furries/otherkin...a perversion? Guilty.

Well, then. Next, I think the charges laid were "crazy" or "mental."

"Crazy" is a word often used by members of the laity to describe any number of things they find excessive or incomprehensible. "Crazy" isn't a word used by medical professionals.

When we say that someone has a mental disorder, that means (as best as I can describe it) that:

1) Their subjective perception of reality differs from the norms of society

AND

2) Their level of functioning is adversely affected by their perception.

Obviously, then, mental disorders can vary from society to society. Example: people who believe they have animal spirits inside them might be viewed as "crazy" in our society, but there are probably groups of people - natives, possibly - whose view would be different.

One of the main problems psychology deals with is how a "disorder" that is informed by context is really a "disorder" at all.

The second problem is defining what is "impaired" functioning.

And here, I start to wonder about psychology in general.

( Little background story )