Why I hate labels

If there is one thing that gets on my nerves when talking about ideas and concepts in any situation, it is our desire to label everything. Don’t get me wrong. I understand the need for labels in order for identification purposes and as a tool for building our language and understanding. But the kind of labelling I’m referring to is the labels we give each other. We all have different ideas and opinions on any number of issues and by the basis of our ideas we will fall into a category, from our beliefs about religion and politics to our ideas on philosophy and life.

But the problem with labels is it gives us a means to immediately dismiss someone’s ideas without even listening to them. If you start a sentence with “I disagree with capitalism”, than you must be a communist! If you start a conversation with “I don’t believe in the bible” your an Atheist! As soon as we hear the words come out of someone’s mouth our brain immediately tries to fit the person in a preconceived label we already have. If we have a negative view of that position our brain tends to shut off from listening to this person because we think we’ve already got them figured out. We all do it! If someone has good ideas; regardless of “who they are” we should listen to them. We should listen to people and agree or disagree on the basis of WHAT they are saying, not WHO is saying it. I don’t care if your an atheist, Christian, socialist, agnostic, liberal, Muslim, Hindu, nihilist, materialist, communist, Buddhist, deist, scientologist, spiritualist or just a plain old existentialist. If you have good ideas I want to hear them!

Sure we need labels for means of identifying things in our society and for the purposes of engaging in meaningful conversations. But we should never use labels against each other. At the end of the day labels are only disguises of who we really are. Were not “conservatives” or “liberals” were not “communists” or “capitalists” were not even “Christians” or “atheists”. If we break things down we are all breathing, talking, feeling human beings. Don’t let something as trivial and meaningless as a label get in the way of connecting with other people. Next time you’re in a conflicting conversation with someone try to remember your talking to a person. Not a label.