Labels

[nightshade]

Do you like to label people or to be labelled as something? I'm not just thinking about sexuality labels but of all kinds. Is it putting people into boxes?

 

[Ms.Trick]

I'm not sure it's really like labeling people but I always sort them in Hogwarts' houses, wether they are fictional people, celebrities or people I 'know' irl 😀

 

[Washburne]

We lable people because it's easy. We can base it on one thing and don't have to know the person beyond that. The bad thing about it is that we mostly take it one step further. We make judgements based on the label. Like everyone is the same. "You fit into this category hence you must be this kind of a person". I doubt anyone likes to be seen that way.

I don't mind some labels being put on me. Many of them fit me. Just that none of them define me 100% or even close to it. People are puzzles with many, many pieces that fit together as one. One piece only show you so much. Or little would be more accurate.

Then there's probably labels put on me that's not very flattering. Some might still fit but I'm better off not knowing about them.

 

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

Labels, I think, are probably some kind of safety net to people. It helps them think they understand those around them - How they assume they think, why they assume they do things. I've known many people that use them, and I'm sorry if it offends, but I can't help but think of how juvenile they sound whenever they try to squeeze these complex, larger than life people into little, teeny tiny boxes. Assuming a person automatically does something based on the idea that they enjoy doing something else can be dangerous, and putting people into those boxes in turn, puts you in a box. It limits your social engagements, your relationships; It forces you to see things in black and white, never allowing you to view the true spectrum of colours of someone's personality. It's an extremely illogical way of thinking, and I will never fully understand why people like putting themselves into little boxes. Labels are for clothes, not people.

 

[Living Dead Boy]

I am not my hair. I am not my race. I am not my clothing. I am not my sexuality. I am not my choice of fandoms. I am Marshall. (Shudder, gasp!) Are you uncomfortable yet? 😉

 

[david4wt]

Well I tend not to but cognitive shortcuts are just in human nature. 😉 The thing is to try to recognize them.

 

[Ripper666]

I think we label others in the first seconds we met them. And that's ok as long as we are open minded enough to change the first picture we got from another person. I think it helps us to live with so many people in our area if we can label and sort them in a certain way. I am still not sure if I like if I get sorted. I think it depends in which drawer I get sorted. 😀

 

[SlayerFest]

I hate labels with an intense passion. You can't judge someone by what you see on the surface. That's just ridiculous. I have met so many people who say to me, "I know what kind of person you are." or something along those lines, after talking to me for about 20 minutes and I'm like "WHAT!?" people seriously assume that I'm really smart because I'm quiet in class and wear glasses.

HA.

 

[kittenpoker]

I absolutely think labels box us in and really nobody fits perfectly into any label (in my experience) But I also think it's really hard to avoid. We kinda make instant judgements based on appearances.....I think the trick is to allow for room for the person to stretch beyond the impression you may of have of them. 🙂

 

[brinkster130]

My problem with labels is that they really only scratch the surface when it comes to people. People tend to be fairly complex and have more to them that a single defining label.

I've never been offended by labels or cared about them much, because I've learned as you get to truly know someone whatever label you initially put on them tends to be incorrect or only a small part of their identity.

 

[Kean]

I honestly couldn't give a flying feck about labels. They say more about the person applying them than they do about the person they are directed at. If filing me under a specific category in your head makes life easier for you, then by all means, file away. Either way it doesn't change who I am. And it certainly doesn't mean you have "filed" me correctly.

 

[sisterofmercy]

No, but I like them when it comes to studying society and psychology and how it all works. I like looking at different personality types and how different collectives orchestrate themselves and you kind of need labels for that. Perhaps not the same labels that one would use for sexuality necessarily, but labels nonetheless.

 

[WWGD]

Labels pretty much only work for superficial people. It's pretty ignorant to lump people into generalizations just because they have certain interests.

 

[zobothehobo]

Eh... I think labels can be a way of categorizing and describing people. But I don't think you should ever try and force a label on someone or not accept that they can (and will probably) extend outside of that label. Humans are complex. Labels are simple. We use them because we need to categorize and describe... but we shouldn't ever suggest that people should fit into little boxes.

 

[prophecygrrl]

To me, it depends what you mean by "label". "Label" as in other people forcing things on to me that I'm not? Sure, that pisses me off most days, as I'm sure it does for most people. But "label" as in self-identity? I will pretty much defend that to the death. Gleefully. 😀 To me, certain aspects of myself (yes- race, sexuality, politics, nationality, generation, etc.) are very important to me. They inform my experiences and how I live in the world, and to me, recognizing that is part of being an individual.

"Labels" (the way I understand it) aren't just labels at all. They come with names, communities, histories and experiences, and there is a wealth of knowledge and power in that that I cannot ignore. Consider this: it means something to call myself an Asian American in a country that sees me as a perpetual foreigner, to apply the term "feminist" or "progressive" to my politics when it is unpopular or ugly to do so, to recognize privilege I hold being an American and belonging to a certain class. Of course I consider myself an individual, but it doesn't change the fact that "labels" still have significance in my life and many others. 🙂

 

[Jodast]

I think the opening voiceover of The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Huges says it best:

Brian Johnson: Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I really hate labels. I really, strongly agree with everything [MENTION=8013]Washburne[/MENTION] said about the subject... I think it's human nature to immediately come up with a label for people on first sight. However, there are a lot of people in this world who can't seem to get past that label, and that is sad.