Way of the Mind

Have you ever been called a “fanatic”? (I’m assuming, of course, that you are not one…)

I have. Several times, by different people. They could never justify their affirmation: they just “felt” that I was one, because of some ideal I had (and possibly have), or because I cared a bit about something that nobody cared about.

It wasn’t something I annoyed people with. I’ve never been a “preacher” of any kind. I believe in complete honesty, yet I never went around preaching honesty or attacking people for not being 100% honest 100% of the time. I don’t pirate music, software or movies, yet most people I know do so, and I’ve never bothered them about it. If they ask my opinion, I give it, but no more.

I’ve never attacked, or told people to attack, someone for disagreeing with me. I certainly don’t intend to become a martyr and kill myself in a blaze of glory to prove some point.

But I still am labeled a “fanatic” from time to time. Why?

My guess is that we live in a time where it’s so common, so fashionable to be apathetic and indifferent to everything, to not give a damn, that someone who actually has the smallest ideal, who says, even softly, “this is right”, or “that is wrong”, or who loves or dislikes something and is capable of explaining why, instead of “oh, I just do!”… someone who cares about some subject or question… well, that someone stands out a bit.

It’s uncommon, rare. And, to most people, what are the standards, if not the majority? The average - not in terms of “reasonable” or “healthy”, but in terms of “the way most people are/act”. If everyone is apathetic, then apathy is the standard, it’s normal - and if caring a bit about something stands out, then that’s abnormal. If apathy is normal, then caring about anything makes someone a… what do we call someone who cares too much, who is obsessed about something in an unhealthy way?

Ah, I remember. A “fanatic”.

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Related posts:

1. Fanaticism
2. “Good” and “Evil”