As I was going through the posts on Facebook this morning, an activity that consumes the time for many of us these days, I came across a discussion that had little to do with the post that started it. In the post, one of my friends mentioned that she had many "religious" friends who were progressive. At that point, another friend, piped up and took umbrage at being labeled a "progressive", which he equated to being called a "socialist/communist".
Labels, a tool that we use in our daily lives as a supposed aid in understanding, in most cases--if not all--becomes just the opposite in my opinion. As soon as we hang a label on someone, we hang all of the meanings that people have associated with that label, like the chains and chests burdening Marley's ghost.
Think of all the labels you know, Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Communist, Progressive, Gay, Artist, Worker, etc. ad infinitum. What thoughts do each of those things bring to mind, what attributes are you attributing to the person by using the label? Does the label fully describe the person you are hanging it on?
All of these words used to be adjectives with which we could describe something. They were never meant to be end-all phrases to entirely define a person. But, quite often, that is exactly what we do. And, most often, the labels, with their associated meanings--quite often at odds with the associated meanings hung on them by another person--have nothing to do with the original meaning of the word.
This is not a new trend, unfortunately, and probably won't end soon, but I am dedicating myself to stop using them. They do an injustice to the person being labeled, and they do an injustice to my own understanding of that person.
Labels, a tool that we use in our daily lives as a supposed aid in understanding, in most cases--if not all--becomes just the opposite in my opinion. As soon as we hang a label on someone, we hang all of the meanings that people have associated with that label, like the chains and chests burdening Marley's ghost.
Think of all the labels you know, Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Communist, Progressive, Gay, Artist, Worker, etc. ad infinitum. What thoughts do each of those things bring to mind, what attributes are you attributing to the person by using the label? Does the label fully describe the person you are hanging it on?
All of these words used to be adjectives with which we could describe something. They were never meant to be end-all phrases to entirely define a person. But, quite often, that is exactly what we do. And, most often, the labels, with their associated meanings--quite often at odds with the associated meanings hung on them by another person--have nothing to do with the original meaning of the word.
This is not a new trend, unfortunately, and probably won't end soon, but I am dedicating myself to stop using them. They do an injustice to the person being labeled, and they do an injustice to my own understanding of that person.
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