Trevor Noah has apparently been subjected to social rejection for a truly ridiculous reason. On the May 2 episode of his podcast, What Now? with Trevor Noah, the comedian explained that he started noticing something once he turned 40 in February.
"Society has deemed me a loser whether I like it or not."
To some in his inner circle, it doesn't matter how successful he is or the depth of his character. "If you've never been married, there's this weird thing that people do to you where they treat you like you're not a serious person in life."
Noah is presently without a significant other — and that simply won't do! Aren't we told the most important goal to strive for as long as you're alive is finding a significant other so you can have children and live a "fulfilled life"?
"You cannot tell me that everyone was designed to live the same way. Our intimacy can be expressed in different ways," Noah concludes on The Howard Stern Show.
Dissecting Trevor Noah's Philosophies On Marriage And Partnership
There was a time when people only humored marriage so they could "earn" their way into important families — or otherwise protect themselves from having their lineage obliterated by would-be rivals. It was a tactic, a useful tool.
Now, we platform it as the end-all, be-all. I'll be honest: part of the reason I earnestly think humankind subjects itself to suffering — or believes suffering is "par the course" — is because we're socialized to believe "My way (or the 'typical' way) is the 'correct' way, and everything else I can't or won't understand should be actively shamed, shunned, or ripped out at the root."
It's "normal" to look at a couple sideways because they don't want kids. Or "normal" to see Noah as weird for being unmarried at 40. But how about this: how many successful married couples do you personally know? I'll wait. If you believe Noah's a loser for being unmarried at 40, you better be able to come up with at least two or three thriving married couples.
And when I say "successful," I mean a married couple who genuinely likes one another. And doesn't merely tolerate each other's existence.
I'm unsure why we often push for society to be a homogenized, unremarkable composite where everyone looks, thinks, acts, and speaks the same.
Isn't life less interesting if Noah is, in fact, an "unmarried loser"?
