The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is “goblin mode”, defined as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”. That cuts pretty close to the bone. I might have suggested “normalization”.
In my lifetime the people and things we have been trying as a society to normalize are vast. In just the last 30 years I could mention quite a number. For example, the number of female-headed households has risen sharply, from about a third in 1990 to half today.
Some of the things that have been normalized over the last three quarters of a century are benign, e.g. graduating from high school. Others less so, e.g. illegitimacy.
Right now we’re struggling to normalize marriage between homosexuals, people using drugs and surgery to “transition” from one sex to another, and in some places petty crime. I question whether such rapid normalization is a viable social strategy.
Maybe “goblin mode” was a good pick.
Who is trying to normalize petty crime?
I Monty think normalize is the right word. Take marijuana use. Gallup poll in 2021 said 49% of Americans have tried pot. Its use was already pretty normal. The current push is just to make it so you dont go to jail for fairly normal activity. Gay people being married doesnt affect straight people being married. Other than wanting to be able to moralize or something how does someone transitioning change your life?
Steve
Many cities including San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia are no longer prosecuting petty theft. Sounds like normalization to me.
As to “transitioning”, follow the science, steve. For all but a tiny few the science strongly suggests that lengthy and intensive counseling and therapy are the preferred course of treatment and should be a prerequisite for transitioning. To whatever extent normalization impels unhappy people to seek surgical or pharmaceutical solutions to their unhappingness, it’s counter-productive.
And lets not forget the efforts in academia (including medical schools) to decolonize the course of instruction and otherwise free us from the oppression of dead white European males in flavor of the wisdom of various marginalized acronyms.
Oh well, wonder how Cabaret will be updated for the present era.
Since I live close to Philly and there are family who are police, what happened was that below $500 it is considered a summary offense, unless it is repeat crime. (Note that in the past the limit was $150.) You can still do jail time for a summary offense and it still goes on your criminal record. Part of the problem is that police are not responding and arresting people. As I understand it, the police do not get overtime to go to court for a summary offense so without that monetary incentive they arent arresting people.
Of note, shoplifting rates in Arkansas where they dont have the liberal DAs is almost exactly the same as it is where they do.
Steve