Anytime someone labels theirselves as anything including being a feminist

Question

Don't they run the danger of not being able to be critical of their beliefs? And run the danger of believing things they are told on blind faith?

Answer 1

yup

Answer 2

Yes that's an inherent weakness.  

Answer 3

Hey I am not a christian; I believe nothing on blind faith.  If I choose to adopt a label for myself and I am intelligent enough to know what I believe in and what I don't then it doesn't matter what others think of me.  Remember its mind over matter; I don't mind and you don't matter.

Answer 4

No.

I don't believe anything on 'blind faith'. My beliefs make me a feminist, not the other way round.

Answer 5

None one told me anything; therefore it's a complete waste of thought for me to be critical of my beliefs. I am what I am. However, I can not, nor do I want to escape from the criticism of others.  That's the responsibility I uphold for my being what I am.  By the way I just didn't decide one day, "Oh, wow, that would be so cool to be an anti-feminist."  It also doesn't matter to me about equal rights either; they won't make me any more of a person/human-being than what I already am. Besides, I don't believe in utopias.

Answer 6

A label does not, and cannot have the power to take away one's ability to think critically.  That is a decision that one makes, apart from joining a group.

Answer 7

If you claim to belong to a group, you become defined by the group.  If you don't want the group's baggage, don't belong.

Answer 8

Exactly.

Identification with an ideology is like a conceptual prison.

Answer 9

Affiliating oneself or subscribing to a hateful doctrine will, invariably, lead to a profound inability to employ rational principles as the basis for the belief system is purely blind faith, i.e. it's exclusive of critical thought.

It's much the same as accepting a religious doctrine, e.g. the Quran, King James Bible, Torah, etc.  These are doctrines that are not privy to scrutiny.

If one accepts Genesis 1:1 as the dogma, it's mutually exclusive of accepting principles of Evolutionary theory.

In the same way when the underlying premise of a philosophy states, without question, that "men are all rapists" this is not something privy to scrutiny.

As such, if one chooses to subscribe to a doctrine by blind faith, then it's impossible to engage critical analysis of said doctrine.

Answer 10

Not if they're astute enough to recognize flaws in some of their ideology's claims.

LA ROSE: Because it doesn't.

Answer 11

Labels are what they are. If you are dumb enough to label yourself, you shall endear the consequences.  

Answer 12

Yep, goes on here a lot, there's a lot of denial.

Answer 13

Interesting point.

I think that is the difference between adhering to an ideology and being a fundamentalist.

As rational beings with a conceptualization of the self, we attach ourselves to notions and ideas that identify us.

Ideologies are part of this, and by entering into relations with the world around us, including people, entities, beings, identities and ideologies, we compose what is known as the self.

In the same way that some are not critical of the self, some will not be critical of their own ideologies.

However, if one is seeking to grow and learn through enlightenment, they would strive, I hope, to be self-critical in a constructive manner, and critical of the world around them as well.

So while subjugating one's identity to an ideology may be dangerous in the sense of replacing criticism with blind faith, there is room for those who wish to identify with an ideology and at the same time become critical of it.

The best example I can think of is the way we are all critical of our own families. We do not disown our families, our labels or identities in order to become critical of them. Instead, it is more useful to get to know them better, befriend them and criticize them to help them grow, and grow ourselves.

Answer 14

I'm not so sure about blind faith but people certainly run the possibility of compromising their own beliefs for the greater good of the label. For example, many people vote Democrat or Republican because that is the label they've taken on, regardless of the candidate or his/her individual politics.

I don't think people lack common sense to that degree to actually believe something simply because they were told, but instead allow themselves to be herded into supporting ideas that contradict their own beliefs. They probably believe they are sacrificing for some greater cause.