Labeling - generalizations - my struggle today

Billygoat

Why is there a basic human need to categorize people? One is a JW or not. Athiest, agnostic, Christian, or wiccan. Either you're a troll, intellect, or fluffer. Why do we try to "box" people in by slapping labels on them? Coming from where we came from (the cookie cutter jdub world), why aren't we more sensitive to generalizations and labeling? I get so offended when someone tries to paint me with the wide brush of generalization, because 90 percent of the time it's not accurate. Why does it bother me so? I don't know.

Maybe it's because this little caterpillar isn't like any other caterpillar. I'm blooming, coming out of my cocoon. It's my journey and I'm going at my pace. Although I may look similar to other caterpillars, I'm not the same at all. My colors are different, my stripes and polka-dots are different. I may move faster or slower. I know that, but many others don't. But if you don't, why does it bother me so?

Andi

mann377

The mind works through association with groups of things. You can test this by asking people to remember a group of numbers individually or in groups. For example ask a group of people to remember the numbers 3-5-7-9-4-1-8-2 or 35-79-41-82. This goes for all things that we come in contact with. For some this might be an annoying and for others a blessing. Association with good or bad is where one can go wrong when thinking of some person, idea or group.

gumby

Why is there a basic human need to categorize people?

Because society teaches us that. We are a product of our enviroment ....just like "the Truman Show.

If people were not influenced as to how to act and feel towards others who seem different to us in some way.....no one would catagorize people as that knowledge would not be there.

Gumby

amac

You're a caterpillar?

Lady Lee

Andi I agree with you whole-heartedly.

It annoys the heck out of me. Actually not so much the labeling but that then you are treated as if you were that label. So an assumption is made that because I think you are a certain way then that gives me the right to treat you unfairly

I get very frustrated when I see this attitude here or anywhere

Each person needs to be treated as an individual based on who they are and not on prejudged generalizations

and Andi I love the colors in your butterfly

onacruse

BillyG:

It's my journey and I'm going at my pace.

That's the spirit!

For me, categorizing people is frequently a way of classifying them as "done with the journey, what they are now is what they'll always be." Couple that with what mann says about attaching "good and bad" to those categories, and bingo! those people we've pigeon-holed are not only static, they're pathetic.

Another drawback to categorization is that usually the description only fits to a certain degree. For example, I've reconsidered how I perceive the Bible, and no longer consider it to be inspired as a Textus Receptus. Therefore, one tag that could be applied to me is "unbeliever." But that's not true! Or the way I believe in God; the tag could be agnostic...but that's not true either!

Really, we're each our own category Like you say, it's our journey.

Good topic, thanks.

Craig

outoftheorg

Labels are used to convince ourselves and others, that (we know) something about this or that.

Ever notice how the medical field has a name for all illness, injury, etc. and may not even know the cause or the cure?

However if you can name it, you appear knowledgeable.

I saw a phrase about generalization that stuck with me.

"All generalizations are false" Think about it. There is another statement in that phrase.

Outoftheorg

Kenneson

Well, BG, it looks to me that you're well on your way to becoming a butterfly!

teejay

Why is there a basic human need to categorize people? Coming from where we came from (the cookie cutter jdub world), why aren't we more sensitive to generalizations and labeling?

Well, Andi, I think your question is self-answering.

It's not a JW issue. It's a people issue. We learn to label people starting at an early age and, without effort to change, continue to do so as long as we live. Labeling is not all bad. It *does* have a couple of upsides. One of the "benefits" of labeling is that it speeds up the getting-to-know process – saving us a bit of time or, said another way, keeping us from wasting a lot of time.

Suppose you're single and a yokel rolls up to your front door to pick you up for a date. On the way out to his pick up truck you notice a KKK bumper sticker (or an "Impeach Bush" or a "I Voted For Bush" bumper sticker... whatever). You couldn't help it. You'd begin to label. Not totally, perhaps, but yeah... the process of getting to know this man would have been jump-started by the bumper sticker ... and probably even before then when you saw the brown goo seeping out of the side of his mouth...

I think that as ex-Dubs, many of us, having suffered the dark side of labeling as JWs, have worked to keep this human tendency in check. Posting on boards like this has also been useful in that way.

By posting, we are able to fully explain our position on different topics. We also learn that the perspectives that people express that are different from ours are very often quite valid. I had that experience here just last week in the matter of the Confederate flag that a poster used as his avatar. It would have been easier to label him and feel that I already knew him, but after a dialog that lasted two days I discovered that I had been wrong about him.

We might as well get used to being labeled and labeling others, too. I don't think even us ex-JWs will EVER totally get over the human tendency to label but we sure can work on doing it less and less. Hopefully the techniques we use here of listening and giving people a chance to explain their position can even translate to the "real" world.

larc

I agree with Teejay on this one. We all have to make judgements and put labels on persons, places and things, every day of our lives. If we didn't, we would not survive.

Sometimes we are wrong, but if we are right more often than we are wrong, it does contribute to our survival, as an individual and as a species.

Labeling - generalizations - my struggle today

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