Deviant Me

Deviance: Behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms. 

As it turns out, I am a deviant. The following ideals of mine are in violation of today's norms and rules in society: 

1. I  generally lean towards being a socialist and a humanitarian. 

2. We should have universal health care in the U.S. 

3. I enjoy debating (especially against conservatives). 

4. Government needs to be reformed to serve the majority. 

5. Women should have equal pay in the workforce. 

6. Homosexual people should have the same marital rights as heterosexual people. 

7. The War on Terror is and always has been wrong. 

8. The judicial system is completely broken and needs to be rebooted. 

9. I  don't like religion. 

At the surface, these ideals may not seem that incredibly odd or deviant, but our system is set up so that none of the above are the norms in practice. For instance, I am mostly a socialist because I care for the general welfare of society and believe that we have a moral obligation to help those that may be in a worse situation. General society labels the programs dedicated to this ideal as entitlement systems. The word "entitlement" has a negative connotation in today's political climate, but my thought is why am I called the bad guy when all I want is to improve the general human condition? This makes me a deviant because I am very much against how the system works now and believe we should treat each other more humanely. This same ideal crosses over into universal health care. Our system does not have universal health care and I believe that everyone in the country should have health care. This is because I am a humanitarian and I don't think health care should be for profit, but rather for the improvement of the general health of society. The U.S. spends more on health care per capita by far than any other nation in the world and yet we are ranked 37th in the world for quality of health care according to the World Health Organization. But again, this makes me a deviant because I do not agree with the health care laws and this is in violation of the rules our society currently has set up. 

My deviance extends beyond this, however. I enjoy debating with those that don't hold the same ideals as me, I don't like that our government serves a wealthy minority, etc. (as mentioned above). My point is that it is easy to define me as a deviant in sociological terms because I am very much opposed to many of our current laws and practices. My deviant ideals are for the betterment of society. From a sociological perspective, deviance is a driving force behind change and I hope that more people are deviant like me, speak loudly, and make this a better country.