Earlier today I saw someone alone in a car talking excitedly. I didn't think twice about it until later, when I thought twice about it.
Remember back in the dark ages before cell phones, when if you saw a guy walking around talking to himself you automatically thought he was a nut-bar? I know I did, but not anymore. Now I automatically assume he's on the phone and is enjoying the convenience of some sort of hands-free device.
The thing that gets me is that the original nut-bars are still out there wandering around talking to themselves, but nobody notices. Our culture has developed in such a way that certain crazy behavior no longer appears crazy. We've camouflaged ourselves to more closely resemble the mentally unstable.
Another example: There were six or eight people in a waiting room the other day, including me, and every single one of us was sitting motionlessly staring at the small square of plastic in each of our hands. Fifteen years ago that sort of behavior would have seemed decidedly odd.
Today, if a genuinely insane person was sitting in that waiting room talking to himself, or staring intently at a piece of plastic in his hand for long periods of time, nobody would even notice.
That's lucky for him.
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