Thoughts on the X-Files Episode “Humbug”

So, I was watching the X-Files episode, “Humbug” last night and it got me wondering about the meaning of the word “nature.” The character, Dr. Blockhead says “Nature abhors normality.” Of course that reminded me of a similar quote attributed to Aristotle, “Nature abhors a vacuum.”

You can read the short Wikipedia summary of “Humbug” and comments about how Otherness philosophy (perceiving oneself as distinct from others in order to form one’s own identity) figures into the story contrasting sideshow freaks with the conventional FBI agents Mulder and Scully. The episode is funny, which is one reason why I like it. It sheds a little light on the way humans treat each other (and potentially, extraterrestrials?) in terms of their genetic, cultural and other differences.

I found another connection to “Humbug” in, of all places, a WordPress blog post from 2017 entitled “Fiji Mermaid,” written by an artist who relocated to America from Scotland many years ago. The Fiji Mermaid was featured in “Humbug.” It was a humbug (fake mermaid) made up of the head and torso of a monkey stitched to the tail of a fish. Commenters actually mention that it reminded them of the X-Files episode, which the artist enjoyed, partly because she’s interested in the history of sideshows and freaks.

I also read an interesting news item about the definition of nature in terms of the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world. That led me to check on the definition of the word.

Until recently, the word “nature” was defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as “The phenomena of the physical world collectively; esp. plants, animals, and other features and products of the earth itself, as opposed to humans and human creations.”

The updated OED has additional definition, which is “More widely: the whole natural world, including human beings.”

I think one of the points of “Humbug” is that humans are a part of nature and we are hard at work mutating it. One of the characters, Dr. Blockhead, criticizes it:

“Twenty-first century genetic engineering will not only eliminate the siamese twins and the alligator-skin people, but you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find a slight overbite, or a not-so-high cheekbone. You see, I’ve seen the future, and the future looks just like him! (points to Mulder).”

“Nature abhors normality. It can’t go for long without creating a mutant.”

You can understand the word “nature” to refer to both humans and the natural world outside of us, possibly to other galaxies. It also makes me wonder who defines what is normal. That leads to social and political factors which complicate everything. I guess that could be why Dr. Blockhead says the reason why nature abhors normality is a mystery—and should remain so.

On the other hand, if it weren’t for the natural human drive to ask questions and explore, the mystery of the cause of polio would have remained a mystery and the iron lung would still be in use.