"Normalizing" in a Nutshell

Occasionally I'm surprised to find many do not fully understand the term "normalizing" 

Yes, it does mean to make things normal but it's more than that. It means to make things SEEM normal that never have been until someone with money and power decided to make it so.

I'll use TV as one example.  This is what TV used to mean:

You would purchase this object for around $200, bring it home, plug it in and immediately have access to every television channel available in your area. Free access to every one of them.  No more.

Now you go out, pay many hundreds, or even thousands more for a flat piece of technology that you hang on your wall.  You're not done.

In order to get programming you must subscribe to one or more "services" depending on what kind of programming you want and in many cases you'll have to pay more to not include a flood of ads along with that programming.  You'll need to pay upwards of $70 a month to many hundreds a month for the privilege of streaming something to that flat screen that just a few years ago would have been free, paid for by advertising ... now you get the streaming AND the advertising.

To millennials and all future generations, this will seem "normal." It is and it isn't. It's normal now because they've trained people to accept it as the price you must pay to watch ordinary programming with the cost rising as you decide maybe you want to watch sports or science or programming for kids, any of a variety of choices.

The geniuses who bring you all this "entertainment" sold this packaging to us so long ago it is now considered "normal."

Just another chapter in the ongoing saga of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

I got rid of my TV several years ago when they started demanding we pay for a tiny bit of programming and hours and hours of ads. Even streaming programming through my computer will cost extra if I want to add anything other than very basic shows that are either invariably very old, or tripe.

Another good example of normalizing - cell phones. Not that long ago you would acquire a telephone, bring it home, plug it in and have a basic monthly fee that was only extreme if you made a lot of long distance calls. Sure, it usually had a cord and you couldn't take it with you.  So what?  Because they have "normalized" the idea that you must have a phone with you every second of every day. What has it added?  Nothing but people driving distracted, mothers shopping while paying zero attention to what their kids are doing, people walking with their eyes glued to that tiny screen because my God, be un-tethered, what a thought.  Everyone must know exactly what you're doing, where you are, what random thoughts are in your mind every single moment.

Be aware, your phone is also making a map, accessible to anyone  with a computer, showing where you are every second, how long you were there, and to whom you talked.  Leave your phone home. We did it for generations and guess what, no one ever died because they didn't have a phone. Sometimes "convenience" is a trap.

I'm not saying technology is bad, I'm just saying it's being overdone, overdone to the detriment of ordinary people and the enrichment of those who make us feel incomplete, unimportant, "not with it," or out of touch if we do not possess the latest gadgets.

Take some time to find out exactly what this convenience, all this instant gratification is costing, not just in terms applicable to you, but what is it costing the planet? What is it costing the environment, our health, loss of societal norms in terms of being aware of what is truly important? We are moving away from each other, not listening, not hearing, not seeing - there is nothing before us but a tiny screen which claims our attention even in the presence of that which is truly vital.