Week Four: The New Weird

Hannah Blair

WEIRD

            I would like to preface by sharing my thoughts on the word “weird” itself. Weird was always a word used in a very negative way. In the 21^st century to be “weird” is almost a desirable thing by many people. People often label themselves with the term along with “quirky” or “different.” For some time I often responded with “who’s to say what’s weird and what’s normal?” Since hearing it more and more often I began to wonder why we have adapted this. Is it our need to stick out among the masses? Do we enjoy shock value and the attention we receive? My thoughts on the term are now as follows. There is no such thing as weird. Our own standards by which we judge is just the picture we have painted in our minds that is subject to change at any one point. The “norm” is so frequently challenged now that the “norm” isn’t a norm anymore. All we have is our own interpretations of the delusion that is our simple insignificant lives. To those that think they are weird I will say continue to challenge and push so the word weird is constant unspoken truth among all people.

            I guess the thing that to some people would be considered the weirdest in my reading of Monster Island was the fact that the main military force was a troupe of Liberian child soldiers (whom of which were mostly women) that they pumped full of drugs. The concept to me doesn’t seem that bizarre because as a child I remember that when I was exposed to less opinions that life in general made more sense to me and it was easier for me to just buckle down and do something without thinking about a million other things. To me the book was much like every other zombie book I read by the end of it and wasn’t as exciting as the first chapters had made me expect.