Pogo
Diamond Member
- Dec 7, 2012
- 123,708
- 22,749
I will never understand the hatred of ‘labels.’ It is completely unfounded. Just because you identify yourself as a democrat or conservative does not make you conform to all of the positions of that party. Nor do you have to remain under such a label. For myself, I don’t identify with any party but consider myself a libertarian. Just because I am a libertarian does not mean that I am going to agree with all the positions of other libertarians. I was not always calling myself a libertarian either. I used to think that I was a conservative until I examined what other conservatives actually believe and the context in which they construct their worldview rather than what is said or written. I found that my worldview is MUCH closer to a libertarian point of view. Me, dblack and eflat (just to name a few of the libertarians here) have had some differences that we have debated here before.
A label is a tool and nothing more. If I were to explain my political viewpoint each and every time that I entered into a debate there would be a wall of text that would take pages and completely detract from the debate. Why would I want to do such a thing? If I chose not to but also kept my label hidden because I didn’t want to choose one then the reader has no concept of where I am coming from or how I view the world/debate. That label conveys a rather large amount of information to the intended reader is a very simple and succinct way.
In all honesty, l have only ever found a single reason that someone does not want to accept a label for their beliefs: they have not fully formed them. Several of my friends that claim to not have a ‘label’ quite frankly simply did not have a political worldview for lack of information/interest. If you have such than you should adopt one such label that BEST describes your worldview. It is not perfect but it helps us understand how you view things. Also, I use worldview because positions are not really that important in this context because they are nuanced – there is a LOT more to most positions than yea or nay. The method that you approach that position, in my mind, is what separates us into rough political categories.
It's well founded, and it's extremely simple.
The function of labels in a forum like this is to facilitate blanket generalizations so that that fallacy can then be used as a crutch for a lame pseudoargument. That's it.
Take me for instance. Did you know I'm an O'bama worshipper, an abortionist, a communist, a Democrat, a welfare soaker, and a gun-grabber? I didn't either, since I've never posted any of that, ever.
That's what labels do. Foment ignorance and dehumanize.
Fuck that. Fuck that left-brained categorization obsession and fuck the little boxes, which Gracie described exactly right. Fuck the labels and grok. If you want my opinion on A, just ask. But that does not serve as a predictor of my opinions on B, C, or Q.
No it’s not Pogo. You are taking the asinine attacks of hyper partisans and shifting those attacks on to the label itself. That is asinine. Those that would levy such attacks do so whether or not you call yourself a lib and will apply the label incorrectly even of you reject it. If you are looking for a way to avoid such the solution is NOT rejecting viable and useful terms – it’s not debating idiots.
Labels are still an effective and succinct way to communicate even if there are those out there that cant handle them.
No, I still have to disagree. A label, even when it's not abused, is by definition an entire bag of stereotypes. It squeezes a person into a prefab box, which then has to load up with exceptions to the assumptions therein. I think that's bullshit and a waste of time. People are people with free will and unique perspectives. Treating them like so many M&Ms to be sorted by color squashes that uniquity and blatantly denies who they are.
Labels are categorization, and categorization is entirely left brain. People without a right brain to integrate context go crazy.
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