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Not labeling myself was something I figured out at 15/16. One thing I've never figured out it why people label themselves.
Isn’t “someone who doesn’t label oneself whereas other people do” a label? :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t “someone who doesn’t label oneself whereas other people do” a label? :)
If everyone's default state is unlabled, then no, not labeling yourself isn't a label.
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“I am observing from an objective position” is the surest sign of a deeply compromised thinker.
Not labeling myself was something I figured out at 15/16. One thing I've never figured out it why people label themselves.
"I don't label myself" - person who labels self with not labeling self. Labels are useful for finding community. This becomes more essential the less popular or the more marginalized you or parts of you are.
I can see how labels are useful for finding community. One potential negative of using labels to find a community is that labels can be exclusive. For example, a label like "LGBTQ+" may exclude people who do not identify as part of that community, even if they have similar experiences or interests. This can create a sense of exclusion and may prevent people from finding the support and connection they are looking for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If everyone's default state is unlabled, then no, not labeling yourself isn't a label.
It's not, though. You're given all kinds of labels as you go through life whether you want it or not. If you don't act on that, you're accepting the defaults. That doesn't mean there are no labels on you.
My view is that having a "small identity" is basically impossible in any practical sense. Many issues are inherently subjective, and even for issues that are (philosophically speaking) objective, actual human individuals rarely have the time or the access to data to form a genuinely objective view. We all use heuristic thinking, all the time, which is inevitably massively biased by all kinds of things related to our…
Your identity is not fully in your control but not fully out of it either. One can make a conscious choice to “find a tribe” or to not do that. I believe this essay argues that one should make a conscious choice to avoid tribe affiliation (even if that affiliation is only in your own head) in order to be a better thinker.
Maybe the real answer is both, though - try to consciously avoid tribal thinking, but also acknowledge that it's likely to creep in anyway, and be aware when it does.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I don't label myself" - person who labels self with not labeling self. Labels are useful for finding community. This becomes more essential the less popular or the more marginalized you or parts of you are.
You could, in theory, make a label out of not labeling yourself but that isn't what we're talking about. I can see how labels are useful for finding community. One potential negative of using labels to find a community is that labels can be exclusive. For example, a label like "LGBTQ+" may exclude people who do not identify as part of that community, even if they have similar experiences or interests. This can create…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not, though. You're given all kinds of labels as you go through life whether you want it or not. If you don't act on that, you're accepting the defaults. That doesn't mean there are no labels on you.
No, not everyone is labeled by default. Labels are used to describe or identify a person or group, and not everyone uses or identifies with labels. Some people may choose to use labels to describe themselves or their experiences, while others may not feel that any existing labels accurately reflect who they are. It is ultimately up to each individual to decide whether or not they want to use labels to describe themse…
Boy, girl, man, woman. Success, failure, virgin, slut, ice queen. Creep.
I'm sure you've labeled others with at least one and possibly been labeled with one you weren't happy about that didn't fit your identity. There are so many more and you use them without thinking.
Since Paul wrote that, people have made so many more things part of their identity, including JavaScript which he points out in the essay was not a particularly identity-charged topic in 2009. With the rise of the frameworks, it has become an identity-charged topic with JS devs now segregated into tribes that insist on using their preferred framework for every webapp they build. It's not about assessing the right too…
It's not really about "the right tool for the job". It's about protecting and promoting the tribe's investment.
That alone is enough to make some folks want to do violence to me (I have first hand experience with this).
Telling me to "stop being x" is a bad vibe when x is something intrinsic about me AND the anti x folks hate me just for existing. I just want to live my life.