ask me anything meme - day 08 (oct 8th)

[erychan86]

Why is it that after all of these years of fighting "labels" are we now labeling ourselves. (LBGTQIA, CIS, etc) What are your thoughts on labels? cherrytattoo77

This is a topic I feel very strongly about and I hope I'll be able to give a clear answer, because - when I get excited about something -  I start going on and on and on about it and I get very philosophical xD I'll try to avoid that. Promise!

I HATE labels! Humans are all unique and there should be no labeling if not one: ME!

I am who I am. No matter my sexual orientation, my color, my beliefs. The things that make me different and unique make me beautiful. I don't need to belong to a group of people to be accepted, I need to meet different people to be able to grow, without differences we are nothing, we're not humans!

I think kids got it right: bring a kid to a park (your kid or the kis of someone you know, don't kidnap anyone for this experiment) and let it go play... They will play with whomever is there... They're not going to ask the other kids for whom they're going to vote, if they are Vegans or what's their heritage. They're not going to give a damn about what they wear as long as it's comfortable... They just label each other as "stuff i can play with" and everything falls in that category.

This is why I am not okay with Tumblr and with lists like THIS... Why do we do this to ourselves? If we really want to be accepted for who we are, why do we spend so much time trying to put little pieces of ourselves into different boxes? I don't understand it.

So who am I? I am ME! I don't have to tell you which age group I belong to, if I'm democrat, liberal or republican, if I'm white or hispanic or black,... if I'm gay, het or any other if that definition that are in that list... I am who I am, talk to me, see what's inside of me and then make your decision about me. Don't separate me into labeled boxes until there's nothing left of me. Let's go to the park and play! All these letters don't matter, they never did and they never will! The only thing they'll do is making us grow apart and loose our individuality.

Comments

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

I am very much in tune with this. I feel labels create narrow and uncomfortable spaces and I have never felt comfortable or at ease labelling myself or being labelled by other. I don’t want to be boxed in or assigned characteristics or narrow definiens of what I can/should do. I want to be judge as a whole person, not one small fragments or one piece at a time.

I understand many need to feel a sense of community and that labels can help with that, but people will never fit in any box and we are more than just a label or more labels stitched together. And with labels and groups comes “dogmas” and in the end someone will feel they don’t fit and new labels come along. Conformity will grow within any groups and I feel like humanity and individuality often gets lost.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I totally agree!

And with labels and groups comes “dogmas” and in the end someone will feel they don’t fit and new labels come along
Exactly... It's like a desperate need to belong to something but all these sub labels only make you feel more lonely... We should just stop doing this to ourselves!

[kaosah.livejournal.com]

OMG I absolutely love your answer!!!
You explained it sooo well!!

I can never put my thoughts into words very well at all, and I tend to ramble when I try, but yours was nice and to the point and explained really well.
I really miss that childhood way of thinking and I don't know why society has gotten so wrapped up with this either..
That list was crazy. Why the heck do you need that many? Though I suppose it is helpful for some people to classify themselves so they can try and explain to others.
I never followed fads, and always did my own thing, and I dress how I want, not caring what others think.

Le sigh.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you find this answer clear... There is so much to say and I really didn't want to rumble about it! And I'm the same way... if a topic is so important and deep it's difficult to summarize what you think about it and then you end up saying something impossible to understand! It's frustrating!

That list is insane and there are tons of them out there! It's insane!

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I just love your answer, and I feel the same way!!!

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I think this goes both way. For some people, labels make them feel excluded, but for others, it can help them feel like they belong, especially if they are not part of a majority? If it was a perfect world, labels wouldn't be needed because we would all feel like we belonged, but I think that labels can be used for both bad and good reasons.

UGH this question is too deep for the weekend!!! :P Glad it was yours and not mine!

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

LOL super deep question falling on a weekend... and a busy one!

I understand what you say... I mean I label myself as a geek for example... But I don't need to divide that category in more sub categories and then more and more and more... Because at the end I'm going to be alone under that label and I'll just feel more alone than before.. Because at the end of the day we're all unique... No one else is like us!!! That's why we're all beautiful and to be taken as a whole! (I don't know how I'm writing this after all the dancing, music, alcohol and crazyness last night xD)

[thegrownupthing.livejournal.com]

When I clicked the list I was expecting to see some shitty tumblr definitions but I was actually quite pleasantly surprised... those are all very basic and widely accepted and used words in conversation between normal human beings (as opposed to tumblr human beings who are like a separate species who live in their own reality)

Tumblr have shot themselves in the foot anyway with their obsession with labelling everything, because what's happening now is that mainstream and dangerous categories of people are resorting to tumblr-style labelling to pretend that they are victims in the world... I don't know if you have ever heard of "incel" (if not, wait until I post my next Peach dump) but it's basically a group of those disgusting men who believe they are "nice guys" and think that women owe them friendship and sex just because they are nice, the kind of guys who get rejected or dumped and end up committing a mass shooting to take their revenge on all women (???) or who murder the partner who left them, etc... well, tumblr legitimised these people to feel like victims!! they created a definition, they even created their own fucking FLAG, and they now associate with each other and make posts lamenting their condition as if it's some sort of illness they were born with, rather than something they themselves have caused?? And it's tumblr who taught them to do that, to put a label on everything and to categorise the world based on who is "oppressed" more... I think and hope that as a microcosm, tumblr is destined for implosion, because it's done a lot of damage already in the short time it's been around...

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

people are resorting to tumblr-style labelling to pretend that they are victims in the world
Where is the emoji with the finger that points up because THIS is so damn true and I agree on so many levels!

To me even that list I posted is too much LOL I just know that I personally hate to be labeled but I was born this way (using the words of someone we love) and I can't change who I am :D

What you wrote about this INCEL thing is so disgusting and I cannot believe we are at this point... How can I still get surprised though... Look who's running for president in America (He said "I could 'shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and I wouldn't lose voters " CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE THIS DOUCHEBAG?) this world is a mess...

I really hope tumblr will implode... but at that point all the tumblr people will have to go somewhere else... so maybe it's better to keep them there and let them be... What a mess!

[cherrytattoo77.livejournal.com]

I love your answer & also miss the innocence of childhood, and the universal language of play. I absolutely HATE labels, but I've noticed it a lot in the friending memes & find it irritating.

But I get that people look for a community to "belong" to.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

Yes I think that is human to try to find a place where we belong to, we have friends that have similar interests, families,... it's normal to feel attracted to people that can share something with us... But when the labels take over and they divide into sub categories and sub sub categories we fail... At that point we don't want to belong to something... we want to be separate from everyone else that is not 100% like us... At that point I think we fail as humans... We are okay with just what we know and we're not open to experience other people! It's sad... This question you asked is awesome and very deep! I was looking forward to it and the topic is very complex and interesting so THANK you for asking me! :) I'm glad my answer didn't disappoint you! :)

[cherrytattoo77.livejournal.com]

It was one of those questions that's been tickling my mind lately. So glad that you were ok with answering it!

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved it! Great question!

[tigtogiba34.livejournal.com]

so you're not a big fan of filling out some friending memes then haha

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well the questions of friending memes don't put you under labels... You just say what you like and I'm totally okay with having things in common with people... I'm not okay with avoiding people because we don't have everything in common, and that's what it seems to be the reason under all these useless labels...

I am the first one to define myself, but I don't go into sub categories... I can say I'm a girl, I'm a nerd, I'm Italian,... but that is not something I use as an excuse to stay away from others... I don;t know if I'm making myself very clear... It's a delicate matter...

I am not the kind of person that uses labels as excuses like "oh you're straight, I'm gay... we can't get along" right from the start... I think more along the line with "oh hello, this is me, like to meet you" let's see one another as clean slates and talk before going looking for someone that's a mirror so that we can agree on everything and not grow into something more than we are...

I think that when we are open and we met people who's different we came out of that encounter different than we were before... But we need people like us to make us happy and feel accepted!

There is so much to say about it and I'm not good at it... Sorry LOL

[sometimesartist.livejournal.com]

I feel like I might be in the minority here but I think labels can be helpful especially when you trying to figure yourself. It can very comforting to know this is how I feel and there might be others who feel the same way. It might fit or it doesn't or maybe you come up with your own word but I think it's good to at least have some vocabulary.... maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense but I'm just commenting now because stuff like that keeps me up at night.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I've never ment to offend anyone... his is yay my opinion on the matter and it's not that I have a problem with who labels themselves... I think that if labels are out there is because people wanted them to be out there, I just don't like to be categorized or when people use it as an excuse to shut other people out like "you don't belong here so you can't be my friend and I'm not even going to try"... I understand they have a purpose... like everything it's the way labels are used that sometimes is wrong... but that happens with every thing...

Sorry... I've never ment to be mean or anything... this is just my thought on the matter that - as I said - it's quite complex...

[sometimesartist.livejournal.com]

No worries. I'm not offended at all!! I get what you're saying. I don't think a label should limit who you can or cannot be friends with.

So it's all good.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I'm glad *hug*