Matthew Thieret (Edison Inro to Soc.) The Five Stages of a Deviant Group Part 5: Acceptance

A deviant has to go through a lot to be comfortatble in their own skin. They deny the problem. They get angry over the problem. They bargain with the problem. They get depressed over the problem. But all of these stages don’t change one important thing. The loss has happened and it always has. A deviant is different. They are born into a world with rules that don’t fit them. The norms of old dictate how a deviant can socialize with the majority. However, after all of this pain and thought the only thing left to do is to accept that a nerd is a nerd, a homosexual is a homosexeual, and an immigrant is an immagrant. And there is nothing socially wrong with that.

Why is there nothing wrong with that? Why should there be? People are all inheriantly different. Some are just more different than others. What would the world be like if everyone accepted everyone else? People would be like bees. A hive mind would be all there ever was. Deviants are the innovators and entertianment of the world. Think of all the deviats that have walked this earth. From religious groups, to ethnic groups, to scientiests, all of them are eventually grouped under the “norm” through the great passage of time. Deviance can often be just something the world must globally accept.

The nerd eventually comes to understand this truth. They seek out other deviants like themselves. The wonders of the internet can make this as easy as a google search. There are thousands of other deviant nerds all over the globe waiting to share the joys of an old retro game or an awesome anime ending. The nerd no longer tries to seek the acceptance and approval of the majority. Why waste time with something that will eventually happen anyway. Look at the video game industry today. It is one of the fastest growing media out there and it can even be more profatible than Hollywood. The acceptance isn’t there but it is a start. Let’s look at an older media. Comic books are being made all the time and are much more acceptable now than ever before. The quality has even improved. The days of a crappy Batman movie are replaced with the excellence of The Dark Knight. There is care and attention to the essence of the source material that was never there before. Movies like The Watchman and 300 even try to stay as close to the comics as possible.

Once a deviant can get over the loss of social status they can have room to grow. They can have time to change people’s minds and throw their opinions into the public sphere.  Look at the headlines from just a week ago. States approving gay marriage and New York introducing the legislation again. Norms are ever shifting. The deviants are society’s mules.

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