Weirdos vs. Eccentrics

Weirdos vs. Eccentrics

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." the great Dr. Seuss once said. However, according to author Pico Iyer, that could get you into some hot water.

In a society riddled with many mental health issues and self esteem troubles, we are taught to be proud of our "uniqueness" and to not be ashamed of our own personalities. Adults like to tell us that being normal is being different. After all, "normal" is a subjective term. It's because of this philosophy that I can't fully accept what Pico Iyer is arguing in his essay "Of Weirdos and Eccentrics".

In a way, I can understand how a "weirdo" is different from an "eccentric". An eccentric is apparently someone who has different interests and/or hobbies than the rest of society and who is comfortable being called strange. A weirdo on the other hand is someone who tries to be normal even though naturally, they have very different personalities compared to the mass population. It is highly possible that they will commit very dangerous acts in this mission to join society. However, what exactly is "weird", "eccentric" and "normal"?

Pico Iyer seems to think that those who have disturbed or troubled minds (those who commit violent murders, shootings, who convince others to commit mass suicides) should be defined as "weirdos". Those who have strange and different hobbies, who have personalities which are more "quirky" should be defined as "eccentric". Weirdos are a menace to society, as the Old English word apparently holds the idea of dark and other-worldly forces and eccentric is "anything that departs from the center".

But can't a weirdo just be a troubled eccentric? Can't an eccentric turn into a weirdo? Are these terms not interchangeable? Iyer says that the main difference between a weirdo and an eccentric is that the weirdo cares very much about what society thinks of him or her and the eccentric simply doesn't care. I think this categorizing of people is unfair and prejudiced. If I see someone collecting strange objects and think he's a weirdo, does that mean that I should avoid him at all costs since he could be dangerous to me?

All in all, I feel that this essay is discussing a subject that has no solid footing at all. Human beings cannot be categorized, especially not according to the ambiguous term "normal". What is normal to one person could be different from another, thus "normal" can't be used as a universal term for anything. Pico Iyer seems to think any criminal is a weirdo and not an ordinary human being who, under horrible emotional and personal circumstances, committed unthinkable acts. He seems to detach weirdos and eccentrics from all other human beings. In reality, we are all the same. People are people, emotions are emotions. Whatever the distinction we try to create between each other is futile.