Why Do Some People Believe Queer Things?
A walk through normal and abnormal beliefs
I tend to believe that people can come to believe just about anything.
Statistically speaking, most people aren’t normally subjected to extreme conditions and subcultures. And most people tend not to subject themselves to extreme conditions and subcultures. But some people do get subjected to, or decide to subject themselves to extremes. This isn’t to say that all extremes are bad. Extremes can be quite good.
By definition most people are normal. By normal, I mean that their behavior or traits tend toward the middle of a normal distribution.1 In this post, it will sometimes help to think in terms of statistics, continuous probability distributions, averages, and variances about the mean. If you’re not familiar with variance, just think of it as the distance from the middle of a normal distribution.
It will also help to see yourself as unique. You probably have some rare traits and some rare behaviors. You are an individual member of a community. Valued.
Though your community, or another adjacent to yours, has norms that may not align with all of your unique qualities, you’re probably still valued by one or most communities. It would be an extreme case for a community to not value someone and thus decide to eliminate that person.
Not everyone is normal, but most people are. This is just a statistical fact, but normal depends on what is considered normal. Normal in one community can be abnormal in another.
In general, there’s nothing wrong with being abnormal, extraordinary or queer. In fact, being different might be a good thing. Being a freak might be a good thing. Norms depend on time, place and genetic inheritance. Goodness or badness depend on time, place and nature.
The goodness or badness of something depends on what we’re talking about. The value of something, whether an idea, a habit or a belief, can come from one’s community or culture. It can also come from nature. We can view evolution as promoting things that have value. In this way, evolution is like an impersonal judge.
It might be difficult to do, but try for a moment to separate statistically normal behavior from notions of goodness and badness. Keep an open mind that queer, abnormal and extraordinary can be synonyms. Statistically speaking these terms can simply refer to something that is an outlier, separate from judgment.
What does it mean for a person to be normal? If we take a bunch of human behaviors and traits, and measure a bunch of people with regard to those behaviors and traits we will tend to see that most people fall in the middle somewhere according to a normal distribution. But what normal distribution is this? Each trait and behavior has its own distribution.
A person might be an outlier in a small fraction of some distributions, but normal in most others. This is probably normal. Being an outlier in every distribution would be rare.
It’s normal to be in the normal part of most distributions and abnormal to be an outlier in most distributions. Here we’re talking about a distribution of distributions. Let’s call this The Big Distribution.
Being normal means being in the middle of The Big Distribution.
In general, people tend to become more like the people they surround themselves with. Parents generally tend to want their children to associate with certain “good” kids - not the ones that will be a bad influence.
Hang out with a bunch of good students and “you” are more likely to become a better student. Hang out with fun people that love beer and “you” are more likely to drink beer.
When I say “you” in the above paragraph I don’t necessarily mean you the reader. I don’t necessarily know you. You might be an outlier. You might be a rebel. You might be extraordinary or abnormal. Some of these examples might not apply to you, but I tend to believe they apply to most people. Normal people.
Let’s continue with a few more examples.
Go to the library where people are reading and you’re more likely to read, write or study.
Go to the gym where people are exercising and you’re more likely to exercise.
Go to the office, and you’re more likely to do the work of that office. Stay at home with your family, and you’re less likely to get as much office work done.
Move to Australia, and you’re more likely to pick up an Australian accent after a number of years.
People that surround themselves with members of a certain religious faith, seem to become more like members of that faith. They tend to take on the habits and beliefs of that faith. This is a big reason for attending church: to become more like or remain like members of that faith; to meet members of that faith; to marry a member of that faith; to have one’s children associate with members of that faith.
Let’s move on to some more controversial examples.
Under the right conditions, people can come to believe that the Final Solution is an acceptable collection of actions to engage in.
Under the right conditions, one man can come to believe that another man is a prophet.
Under the right conditions, you can come to believe that you are a prophet.
Under the right conditions, a man can come to believe that he is slave of another man.
Under the right conditions, a slave can come to believe that his is a freeman.
Under the right conditions, a man can come to believe that other people are his property.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that suicide is the best course of action.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that all white people are racist.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that occasionally beating or raping his wife is acceptable.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that free soloing El Capitan is delightful.
Under the right conditions, a man can come to believe that he is a woman.
Under the right conditions, a man can come to believe that he is gay.
Under the right conditions, a man can come to believe that he is bisexual.
Under the right conditions, a man identifying as heterosexual can develop a habit of sex with other men and still identify as heterosexual.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that plural marriage is superior to marriage between one man and one woman.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that eating meat is a bad idea.
Under the right condition, a person can form bad habits of just about any type.
Under the right conditions, a man’s bad habits can form a large portion of his identity.
Under the right conditions, a man’s drinking can form a large portion of his identity as an alcoholic.
Under the right conditions, a person can form good habits of just about any type.
Under the right conditions, a man’s good habits can form a large portion of his identity.
Under the right conditions, a man’s exercise habits can form a large portion of his identity.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that smoking pot very often is a good idea.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that Israel has no right to exist.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that Joe Biden is fit to be President until one day it’s clear to most people that he isn’t.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that all abortions should be banned.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that most abortions are okay.
Under the right conditions, a person can come to believe that pure socialism would be paradise.
Under the right conditions, some people, maybe most people, can change their mind about most of these beliefs.
One of the difficulties in knowing why some people are abnormal, extraordinary or queer, is that we aren’t them. Some people claim to be prophets, others claim to be trans, others rightful owners of other men. These ideas might seem strange to us, but perfectly normal to them. What gives?
We are people of specific times and places. An identity in one time and place may seem normal to people in that community, but seem abnormal to another community at a different time or place.
We are people of specific family situations. An identity in one family in one community might seem rational to a person growing up in that family and community, while seem strange to others in that same community.
We are also people of specific genetic dispositions. An extraordinary or queer genetic trait may seem normal to people in that community, but seem abnormal to people in another community.
Both culture and nature are the arbiters of goodness and badness of habits, traits and beliefs. Even though culture may accept certain behaviors or traits as good, nature may tend to diminish the likelihood that that behavior or trait succeeds. That is, culture may vote in favor of one trait, while nature may vote against that trait. Sometime later, the opposite can be true.
This is why we have to keep an open mind about certain traits, beliefs and habits. We don’t know what might be good now or in the future.
And even though nature had formerly diminished the likelihood that certain traits and behaviors would succeed, culture can come to dominate over nature causing that formerly “undesirable” behavior or trait to be valued, good and successful. The trans identity hasn’t been very common in our evolutionary history, but it seems to be more common now. Could this be a good thing? In what way are trans people or acceptance of trans people a good thing?
I don’t claim to understand why certain people believe the things they do, but I tend to believe that most people can come to believe just about anything under the right conditions. This may not be true for everyone. It may be impossible for certain people to believe certain things, even under the most extreme conditions.
I tend to believe that most people don’t even want to go there. They don’t want to find out. They don’t want to subject themselves to the extreme conditions that would cause them to believe things associated with those conditions. Who would want to become part of a Nazi killing machine in order to find out that you too could find genocide acceptable? Who would want to grow up on a plantation in which whipping slaves was the norm, only to find out that you too could believe it was acceptable?
So where does that leave us? Somewhat ignorant of the personal experiences of others. We simple don’t know and probably won’t know how other people have come to believe the things that they believe. We aren’t them and can’t enter into their time, place or bodies.
And because we don’t know what other people are going through we should generally respect them and their rights so long as they are peaceful and respectful.
Is this yet another case for the First Amendment?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Not all distributions are normal, but many are.
Thank you. Cultural norms are often have the most significant impact in historical events, and of course should be emphasized to students instead of engaging in delusional presentism.