[darkmighty]

Yea it bothers me a little too. Some people will actively put down anything that doesn't conform the norm even down to your gait, as the reporter said, and I find it really hard to accept this.

Mathematics is a matter of mental bandwidth: you're dedicating all your attention to it, save for reserves to your kids and loved ones. Normal jobs don't have this -- with the lack of more interesting things to think about, you can spend your whole day thinking about other people and critiquing their dressing, their gait, the way they talk, etc, which is all part of being "normal" and is a set of really shallow conventions for me.