Normalize

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Fighting for Our Democracy and Rule of Law

Normalize is the polite word for surrender. It is what we say when we do not want to say capitulation. The corruption does not normalize itself. We do, by getting tired, by looking away, by deciding the news has been bad for so long that bad must be the weather now. It is not the weather.

Pardons handed out to people who broke the law on camera, normalized. Federal investigators fired for following the case where it led, normalized. A press corps trained to soften the verbs and pluralize the actor until the sentence loses its subject, normalized.

The mechanism is fatigue. The bet is that ordinary people have full lives, late shifts, sick parents, kids in the car, and cannot keep track. The bet is that you will give up on outrage because you cannot afford it. The bet is mostly a good one. That is why it keeps getting placed.

MARCHING FORWARD

Go deeper: Read our complete guide — Black Mental Health: A Complete Guide to Healing, Resources, and Breaking the Stigma.

Also see: Mental health stigma hits veterans hard too. Our full guide on Veteran PTSD: Understanding, Treating, and Living Beyond Post-Traumatic Stress covers the same walls — and how to climb them.