That we assume they do -- does not make them so.
Does the fact that I've supped on barbecued chicken wings and corn on the cob infer a race? Does the fact that I've pored over racks at local thrift stores to stretch my budget infer a socioeconomic status? Does the fact that I prefer to wear as little as possible when I'm sweltering in the summer heat or at the beach infer an age? Does the fact that I'm as keen on fpss and mobas as mmorpgs infer a gender? Does the fact that I wouldn't trade my American citizenship for any other infer a national origin? Does the fact that I value the espousal of compassion for all human suffering by many religions infer a religion? Does the fact that I don't wear any symbols of marital union infer a marital status? Does the lack of prestige my day job is consistently accorded infer an educational attainment? Does my predilection for wearing men's clothing infer a sexual orientation?
Yet, without fail, we assume that race, socioeconomic status, age, gender, national origin, religion, marital status, educational attainment, sexual orientation, etc. confer vital facts that we need to know about each other sans interactions in vivo.
However, if I were to disclose my race, socioeconomic status, age, gender, national origin, religion, marital status, educational attainment, sexual orientation, etc. -- would you think more of me -- or less? If neither -- then what relevance do my labels retain? For labels reveal less than we would otherwise discover via real interactions sans label-centrism.
For what is label-centrism but an umbrella for -isms? When we align, identify, and categorize our selves and each other on the basis of labels alone -- are we not perpetuating -isms and constructing communities of -ists? For aren't communities self-established on the basis of labels alone -- communities of -ists?
If you and I share a gender and align ourselves with a gender-based label-centric cause -- are we not disseminating sexism within a self-established community of sexists? If you and I share a race and align ourselves with a race-based label-centric cause -- are we not disseminating racism within a self-established community of racists?
Likewise when we propel our label-centric agendas -- do we not also identify our antagonists by label alone? Thus, as sexists we perpetuate sexism by treating others as adversaries on the basis of gender alone; while, as racists we perpetuate racism by treating others as adversaries on the basis of race alone.
So: when -ists use -isms to denigrate our selves and each other as -ists -- at what point do we collectively rescind all defenses of -isms -- irrespective of label-centric moralizing and zealous extolment? For the reign of -isms is nothing more than having label cake and eating it too.
More
Until we resolve that the value and merit of our selves and each other rests within the intangible ether of human hearts and human souls -- we will cling to the vacuous authenticity of labels, label-centrism, and all label -isms with desperate sanctimony.
- M.
Addendum
The problem with labels is treacherously more insidious than their conferral of nothing meaningful: we imbue them with such intensely emotional social currency, that we mindlessly use them without challenging their accuracy, validity, or utility -- all the time.
How often do we presume factual truths about each other -- erroneously and deleteriously -- by virtue of nothing more substantive than [fill in the blank: race, socioeconomic status, age, gender, national origin, religion, marital status, educational attainment, sexual orientation, etc.]?
How often do we surprise each other -- by being, expressing, or demonstrating -- feelings, thoughts, or actions -- incongruent with our entrenched expectations of each other vis a vis [fill in the blank: race, socioeconomic status, age, gender, national origin, religion, marital status, educational attainment, sexual orientation, etc.]?
Isn't it possible that rather than ease and facilitate our interrelational interactions -- labels interfere with our eschewal of -isms?
Indeed: when we disguise our most pertinacious bigotries under the beguiling sacrosanctity of labels -- we're simply trading the ugliness of -isms for the hollow pretense of authenticity.
- M.
Note
We use labels to align, identify, and categorize our selves as much as we use labels to align, identify, and categorize each other. Hence, even those who aspire to live among us label-free, fail to escape the toxicity of label -isms from within label groups:
Ex. Raven-Symone Has Lost Her Damn Mind (by Stereo Williams from The Daily Beast 10/29/15)
While others fail to recognize label -isms directed mercilessly towards self-established label-brethren:
Ex. Why I will never work for a woman: After the Apprentice catfight, one very opinionated writer reveals she loathes 'cliquey, bullying' all-female offices (by Kelly Bradford from The Daily Mail 10/28/15)
Needless to say, if we struggle to muffle our own label -isms towards our own label-compatriots -- is it any wonder that we struggle to muffle the raucous interference of innumerable label -isms every time that we interact with any one?
- M.
