I'm so tired of people saying "I'm not a liberal or a conservative, I refuse to be labeled"... yes, o.k., so you're also not any of the following labels, right? heterosexual/homosexual/bisexual, religious/atheist, political, moral/immoral, male/female, human, alive, conscious. Just because you make your own decisions about what is right/wrong and what the best options are in society/international politics/national economics/etc doesn't mean that you are not somewhere on the liberal/conservative scale.
Just because I self-identify as human, atheist, heterosexual, economic-liberal, social-liberal, and good-government (ask if you don't know), doesn't mean that I will always agree with those who self-identify the same way. Yes, I am a registered Democrat, but that's only because Democrats tend to agree with me and Republicans tend to disagree with me. I'm not therefore forced to vote Democrat, I'm just forced, in the primary, to indicate which Democrat I'd rather see in the general election instead of being able to say which Republican I would rather see.... and in my state, that means I more often will have a decision to make than otherwise. If I were in another state, maybe I'd change my affiliation, but it wouldn't change the criteria by which I would vote in the general election.
Labeling isn't a bad thing. In the case of politics, it cleanly and concisely gives us a starting place. If you meet someone and they want to know about your political ideals, you don't have to go through every issue, you can just explain in a few, or even one, terms and deal in generalities at the start.
By the way, what kind of music do you like? What? You like a type of music? Nonsense, I thought you refused to be labeled and I was sure that you would go through the entire list of artists you like.
While I understand your point, and I am not trying to invalidate (?) it ... People might just not want to be labeled because they recognize the negative associations with each group and don't want to have that linked to them.
ReplyDeleteI think being linked to a political party is very different than being linked to a type of music. Political association can allow people to make assumptions on your values and the way you treat other people. I don't feel any association with any political party and I don't think I can say that I tend to agree with any one party. I usually think everyone is wrong, but that isn't really how voting works. I need to pick one, and I do, but that doesn't mean it reflects my beliefs. And I want to be understood for who I am and a "democrat" isn't who I am.
But asking which party I am more likely to agree with isn't the same as asking my political affiliation. Saying I am a republican or a democrat (or whatever) is defining who I am. And I think I have a right to make the final decision on who I am and what I identify as. I don't think labels are a bad thing, but if I don't feel I fit into any of the given labels, I believe I should have the right to reject the given labels.
:shrugs: but whatever
So, just to be clear, by being a member of the Democratic Party, I either wish to be associated with or am ignorant to the negative associations with that group? I'm also curious, does this only apply to political parties or are there other arenas of labels that this applies to as well?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the comparison to being linked to a type of music, the issue I have is when people say labeling is bad and that they will not be limited to one. I like pop music, does that mean I wouldn't enjoy listening to some classical? Does my entire musical perspective match those of others who say they like pop? The point isn't that political party = type of music (though there are many for whom their preference for a musical group is stronger than their affiliation with any political party) but rather that LABELS are not bad evil things that prevent you from having a broader and even more unique personality than the label would suggest. Let's take another label. I'm a heterosexual male. There are plenty who would draw lots of conclusions based on that. Do you think I should avoid that label because of the negative associations that there are? I certainly don't want to be associated with many of my fellow heterosexual males in the human race, but that doesn't mean that I'm not a heterosexual male. I get that some people aren't left or right politically, but those people are few and far between. Most people have an opinion on whether abortion should be legal, pot should be legal, homosexual marriage should be legal (or even homosexuality itself should be legal), and a great host of other ideas and while I don't think you need to put yourself in a box, suggesting that you don't have feelings one way or another on these which puts you on the spectrum is a little hard to believe.
You absolutely have the right to choose which labels you wish to identify as. The suggestion, on the other hand, that identifying yourself with labels is bad and limits you in some way, or that it defines you completely, is both wrong (because it doesn't limit you) and insulting to those of us who choose to identify as something because it suggests we are sheep and 1-dimensional. If that's how you see me, I cede the field, the game is yours. If you see me as more than just a left-wing ideologue, please explain to me how my labeling myself as left-wing has limited my ability to think for myself and be an individual but has still defined who I am and how I treat others.
I'm not saying everybody has to label themselves with a political party, but when it comes to a discussion about politics, if someone says "I refuse to be labeled, I'm an independent thinker", please tell me how I should take it as the statement reflects on me.