Reply #6: There is an assumption that

[LWolf]

loners are somehow "outcasts." That they spend time alone, not because they are made that way, but because there is something wrong with them that "normal" people can't deal with.

There is a cultural belief that there is something "wrong" with being a loner, just as there are other widespread, erroneous beliefs that those who are not of your religion or race or sexual orientation, etc. are somehow "deviant."

I just got done rereading "A Separate Peace" to make sure I could put it on the shelf in my classroom safely. I noticed that the blurb on the back of the book describes Gene as "a lonely, introverted intellectual." Whose insecurities, of course, lead to the death of his more outgoing "better" roommate/friend. Stereotyping in classical literature, written the year before I was born.