Why are people so opposed to 'labels'?

Question

How would you know who to vote for?

How could you say what your beliefs were?

How could you even address a letter to Mr or Ms without a 'label'?

What about food, clothes, TV stations - if no-one labelled anything, wouldn't that be a nightmare world of confusion?

Your thoughts please! :-)

Answer 1

If your "label" is preventing you from considering other points of view, then there IS a problem with labelling, IMO.  It's nice to "keep it simple stupid" but I've often seen people who live and die by shorthand generalizations about concepts.  If taken too far, it can promote ignorance.  People often mistake KISS with "that's all I need to know about something."

That's where I start to strongly oppose labels.  Using labels in the mundane way that you've described IS harmless, but there DOES come a time when it can start to impede on open discussion.  (I really wish that Y!A would let me use italics to emphasize a point rather than have to capitalize everything!)

Answer 2

Labels are used for "boxed" quick communication.

Problem with it, is often a label will have different meaning to different people.

Someone say I'm Pagan, and another person think devil worshiper.  Does that make pagan's devil worshipers...no religion has nothing to do with that but thats what the other person is thinking.  Same can go for any label, for they all have multiple meaning.  

However, could you imagine how long it would take to communicate without any labels?

Answer 3

Labels detract from the significant issues which truly matter.

I apologize if this is offensive.

Answer 4

There are useful labels, and misleading or counter-productive labels.

I know who to vote for, not based on labels, but on what I think they're likely to do in office.

I can more accurately convey my beliefs by giving them. Using overly simplistic labels for a complex set of thoughts is misleading. (There are some, such as 'atheist' which do convey a simple idea: lack of belief in supernatural beings. As the thought is simple, so a simple labels works to convey it accurately.)

Names are one form of "label" to refer to particular people; titles are not quite the same things as labels.

Nouns refering to physical things are the least problematic of all labels.

I know of no one suggesting we eliminate nouns from our language. When people object to labels it's in cases where the system of labeling is flawed or the labels misleading.

And there's the problem of substituing naming a phenomenon for understanding it.

Answer 5

I am opposed to labels because of that pesky glue patch that is so hard to clean off.

Answer 6

exactly!!  labels are nothing more than time savers...

Answer 7

Labels tend to compartmentalize people into neat, tiny boxes.  

While perhaps I might not mind being stuffed into a box labeled "me" because all the stuff written on the outside of the box actually describes me, I might be offended to be put into a box where I only share perhaps half of the beliefs that the majority of the denizens hold.  However, the usually presumption is that the contents of the box are all equal and share the majority's view.

I don't think it's so much the labels that are the problem, but the size of the box that the labels are stuck onto sometimes.

Answer 8

How would you know who you vote for? Are you serious? People who actually use their brains don't vote for candidates because of the party they belong to, they look at the candidates' stances on issues that are important to them and vote for the one who seems like they'll best represent their values.

How could you say what your beliefs were? Same thing, if you are serious I don't even know what to think. I can tell you that I believe men and women deserve to be treated equally without ever using the word "feminist". And I don't like to call myself a conservative or a liberal, because my views don't perfectly line up with either side. Again, this is what happens when people think for themselves.

Consider now that I actually don't have a problem with labels. If something can be called "feminist" or "liberal" or what have you, go ahead and call it that. if the shoe fits, right? But I think some people, yourself included, rely too heavily on them, to the point that you'd be totally lost without them. That is what I find negative, and it's also probably why some people have such a knee-jerk reaction against them. They're just words, stop letting them completely define who you are!

Answer 9

I'm not. I think they can be useful. Obviously one shouldn't assume that everyone in a certain category thinks exactly the same though.

Answer 10

Well, I would know who to vote for by the person only, instead of (in america) Democrat, Republican, or some third party.  I vote for a person, not for a party.

My beliefs are not even idenitfiable by even my own standards, so there's no sense in my labeling it to sound intelligent or anything.  I guess in this case, I deserve the label "Rebel".

Your third question is silly :P.  It's not about labels like Ms. Joan Thomas or Mr. Bruce Lee or Dr. Jackass Donkey, Ph.D. :P

I'm not opposed to labels like "Banana" or "Rice" or "v****a".  I'm opposed to stereotypical labels and the processes behind it such as racial profiling or "Feminist" or "Anti-Feminist" or whatever you can think of.  

Labels can go suck their mothers. :P

Answer 11

Labels are extremely useful, but only if they are accurate. If you call yourself a feminist it should mean something specific, not mean whatever you want it to mean. I judge people by behaviour not words, and that's why I think the 'feminism=equality' label is totally misleading. If feminism was about equality then prominent feminists wouldn't say things like this http://nzmera.orcon.net.nz/femqotes.html

or have campaigned so vigorously for the grossly prejudiced VAWA laws http://men.typepad.com/mens_hour/2005/07... despite the wealth of evidence that men are as likely to be victims of domestic violence as women http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/lawrevie...

I am not at all against labels, but because labels are so useful I am very much against false and misleading labels.

Answer 12

Great question, Eleanor!   There's always a tension between language and the thing/person described - no word can ultimately capture the fullness of reality.  Yes, labels are essential to communication, but at the same time they are always inadequate, and we have to keep pushing against the limitations they place on us. This is a neverending dilemma.

Answer 13

In the literal sense, labels are important.  They provide information we may need to make an informed decision.

The labels that I despise are the ones that modern society has placed on certain 'disorders'.  People get down...they can be unhappy.  As a result, they may not be as productive in their lives.  In our hectic paced life these days, its only natural.  Sadly, however, the medical community decided to label these disorders...giving people the permission to justify their behaviours.  

We have a staggering number of people now diagnosed with depression and other emotional 'disorders'.  Consequently, a staggering number are on medications.  I realize there are real cases that require proper medical care, but I think we all know people who have justified their moods with the label of depression.  It simply gives too many people an 'out' - rather than dealing with their problems and bucking up!

Answer 14

I don't like labels unless I give them to myself otherwise someone is just presuming that they know me.

I don't vote on political parties I am smart enough to research each candidate for myself.

I would simply write the address on the envelope if I didn't have a label.  

I know beef is beef and chicken is chicken.  No one has to tell me who made the shirt I either like it or I don't.

Those are not nightmares or a world of confusion... I also think it is stupid to put danger labels on things; coffee is hot and if you think bleach is good to drink on a summer day go right ahead.  It would really help eliminate the stupid people.

Answer 15

I've been lableled my whole life and people still get me wrong.

Answer 16

When I say I'm opposed to labels, I mean labels for ideologies and beliefs, not for objects. We can name something which is objectively measurable or observable, like food, but people's belief systems are much more complicated.  

If someone says they're a liberal, it doesn't really tell you anything about what they believe liberalism to be, or how they think its goals should be achieved. All the stereotypes associated with that group will be applied to them, even though they may not fit them.

It's personal choice whether you want to give yourself a label, and I see that they can help to create a group identity. But I feel that labels divide people more than they unite them, and I'd like people to judge me for me rather than by the strengths and weaknesses of a whole group. Labels are subjective, and someone could get completely the wrong impression of my viewpoint.

I think it's more confusing that two people could call themselves feminists, yet hold completely different beliefs about equality. Or that a feminist and an anti-feminist can have almost identical opinions.

Answer 17

A lot of people are opposed to labels because of the possibility of being stigmatized. I say, who the h**l cares?