We are so big on labels. Long ago, God gave Adam the right to name all the animals in the Garden of Eden and we have continued to do so ever since. In fact, we have expanded naming things way beyond animals.
We use labels to describe, to identify, to categorize, to trivialize, to stereotype, to control, to condemn, to marginalize, to authorize, to denigrate, to fund, to stereotype, and to destroy. We hear a label or call someone by a label with the expectation that everyone will agree and understand the connotation of the messaged word. Some individuals in order to collectively identify themselves as a group, self label but then they expect everyone to accept their term for themselves and are offended when someone does not use the right term or uses it incorrectly. Some labeled groups, decide that with this newly formed status that they are not being treated fairly and demand that they receive special privileges because of past discrimination. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a small minority telling the majority that they are due more rights than the majority. This same conceptual statement appears in Animal Farm by George Orwell - “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”.
Almost three years ago, I wrote about what occurred after the Charleston, South Carolina shootings. As soon as the media learned that a Civil War flag had been found, the assailant was labeled and those shot were forgotten in the racially charged arguments that ensued. Because after all, a symbol is more important and to blame not the person, when people are murdered. The aftermath was not focused on the marvelous love of the church’s Bible study group that welcomed into their mix a snake but all over the country, people went searching for historical references to expunge. Symbols, songs, names on buildings, roads, and statues all came under scrutiny because somehow they were evil entities that at some point in our history had a human face and body and had a positive or negative impact on history. However, now we are looking at them through new glasses (our times and beliefs and maybe, sensibilities ) and judging them for one portion of their life. This is called historical presentism and is a false way of examining the past. Two questions we have to face are, one how far “bad” or “good” does someone have to be before they are deemed worthy or unworthy and two, is there a statute of limitations on when we get to reexamine their lives and influence? The United States is not the only country that does this, all over the world, people try to rewrite history as new governments and people come into power and desire to eliminate all traces of someone that now must be hated.
When this unnamed man killed people, the motive became the major focus as to how it was viewed by so many. As usual, because of our compulsion to label we focus on why someone did what they did and how could they do something so horrible, but in the back of everyone’s mind is how could we/I have prevented it. Constantly and almost automatically, we blame ourselves or society for what one person did. We are still hearkening back to the idea of if we can just identify and ultimately eliminate the original sin, we can prevent the reason behind why someone does something evil and emulate for all, then we can achieve our perfect world and society. This is impossible because despite what the world believes we are imperfect. We cannot create a utopian society but demanding everyone obey a standardized bunch of rules, laws, or beliefs. We were told years ago, that Republicans cannot legislate morality but this is the ideology behind almost every perspective, legislation, and judicial ruling today.
A few years ago now, near where I live, a 14 year old girl brought labeling to the forefront again. There was an immediate rush to judgment. She accused two fellow students of raping her. But as time passed, it was determined that her sexual relations were consensual with two immigrants. However, when the story first broke, questions focused not on how something like this could happen in our schools but on how these individuals came into the United States and ended up in Montgomery County, Maryland. Discussions and accusations tended to fixate on that these men did not know English, that they had suffered so much in their home country but now they had opportunities here, that their culture is different from ours, their immigration status is not issue to the school officials since it is illegal to know that, how could they be freshman in a school system at their age, and that this county is almost a sanctuary county. All these and more issues were analyzed and evaluated by teachers, parents, students, newscasters, politicians, and everyday people. Yet these questions all miss the main point in the firestorm. Those factors are all basically irrelevant and incidental. Again, the girl is lost in the shuffle of the blame game. And there were the typical questions from the ignorant — Was she dressed in a such a manner that suggested something that was wrongly interpreted? What did she look like? Did she encourage them somehow? Fortunately from a legal perspective, although, these questions which are labeling are disallowed in a court of law but that does not always keep people from thinking these heresies. However, these again are irrelevant because they are not factors. It does not matter where you are from, rape has been condemned for thousands of years and for many, sexual relations with “minors” is unacceptable. Yet so are false accusations, since the whole story was based on lies. Again, we are not perfectible through human endeavors neither by the education system, by religious instruction, or by our adherence to a set of ethical rules. All different ethic, religious, culture, genders, and age groups have individuals who commit crimes, who lie, who make mistakes in the heat of the moment because they are afraid of the consequences of their actions and the choices they have made. Unfortunately, the labels become permanently attached. In this case, the girl will forever be known as a liar among other things and the two men will be labeled in multiple ways which are still being determined. All three will all have to live with the consequences of their actions and they will be judged based on them and the fallout in the school community is incalculable. The narrative is again set in stone, the labels have gotten in the way of the truth. Future situations are going to be evaluated in the court of public opinion based on this incident. New laws may be created to deal with the issues raised by what happened. However, laws have been around for centuries and people still break them because human behavior may be limited by laws but they do not stop all wrongdoing.
Looking at the news and how it is shared - depending on the bias of the speakers, both perspectives are rarely heard. The label which is put into place by the politically correctors is used to appeal to their audience and those from the alternative perspective use labels to make sure they are heard by their supporters. Labels have a habit of getting in the way of the facts of a story and cause visceral reactions from the audiences as their viewpoints are reinforced.
We need to stop labeling people in such a way that prevents us from discovering who they are and from finding out what makes someone tick, at the very least labels inhibit dialogue. Labeling someone pejoratively has the negative effect of shutting down communication as it devalues that person’s perspective on whatever they might say in the future and what they have said in the past. Yes, via labeling we can identify common interests or characteristics but labels should be bridges not barriers. We would be wise to learn when a label is used for a good purpose and when a label is not.
