I’m tired of being labeled by people who don’t even know me. I am my own person, just like everyone else, and the myriad things which make me who I am, once combined, result in a unique individual. Some people likely look like me or are of similar height or build. Some share my level of intelligence (such as it is), my love of sports, or my feelings about family. Many would agree with me that dogs are the greatest thing since sliced bread and that cats are much more entertaining when they’re pissed off about some perceived slight or another.
Welcome to still-think-for-myself tribe. It can be lonely here because we miss out on the exciting rallies and boycotts. Also, you had me at your stance on the flying crapping birds.
Thanks for commenting on my article and sending the link to your work. Fantastic article. Looking forward to exploring your page to read more.
I’m taking a little mini break from writing but do have another article coming out from Wrongspeak on Monday. It’s a little bit of a different perspective on how I see the world but I had fun writing it and hopefully my points make sense.
While I am in full support of your ideas... my question goes to the beginning: Why do you care if someone else labels you? I will never give that power to anyone. It's silliness to even have to MAKE a list like this, in my opinion. It's almost granting power to people you don't know, the power to stick you in whatever box they choose -- because, though you listed a bunch here, there will always be more. And that's sort of my point; as Kipling said, "Once you pay Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane." Once you've tacitly acknowledged "they" have the power to decide who and what you are, they always will. Protestations aside.
You’d think this would be common sense - “Don’t judge a book by its cover” was one of the first adages I learned as a child, and it has stuck with me and shaped how I interact with the world. I consider it to be a fundamental value, like the Golden Rule. Which is why I feel completely gobsmacked and lost in this identity-obsessed world we find ourselves in the year 2023. In an age where we can know and be so much, we’ve reduced each other to these shallow concepts and tossed each other into buckets, whether it’s race-based, sex-based or politics-based. Maybe it’s because of our information-overloaded world? Maybe some feel compelled to simplify things? Who knows. I know that I am more than the color of my skin, more than my age, “more than meets the eye.”
Speaking of Transformers, we have another problem of the moment - people claiming identities because they feel them. Males claiming to be women simply because they feel like it, putting on dresses and makeup and maybe even going so far as to have their penis turned inside out into a wound they refer to as a vagina. Our identities are not just what we claim them to be but also how the world receives us, sees us. And a woman is more than a pretty dress. You cannot become a woman simply by donning one and then caricaturizing women’s mannerisms. Just because a man “looks” like a woman and thus claims to be one and demands to be treated like one, we let him into women’s spaces and sports, when again, the idea of a “woman” is much deeper than this - deeper biologically and societally.
So we are taking people at face value and treating them as such. And the media, academia, and (for the moment) democratic politicians are the most culpable in reinforcing identity groups, wreaking more havoc on America and western civilization, in general, than they are ready to admit. Practically every person in the Biden Administration was introduced by their shallow identities - “Introducing this black, gay woman,” “Welcome this trans woman.” Who cares! Tell me about their experience, their competency for the job. Medical schools and others are dropping their standards in an effort to “look” diverse, as if cancer is cured or brain surgeries are successful because of anything other than race-blind knowledge, skills and aptitude. Academia and other once revered institutions are also taking music and art and reducing them to the race of the artist and composer, rather than letting the art simply speak for itself and be whatever it may be.
We are losing the 3-dimensionality of our world, not just because we are glued to our 2-D screens, but because we are treating each other and things that once had meaning like paper dolls.
The only thing I know to do about it is lead by example, for my son, for the people I work and interact with, and continue to call out the stupidity and juvenility of the broad brush strokes people are painted with, and highlight the resulting harms.
Welcome to still-think-for-myself tribe. It can be lonely here because we miss out on the exciting rallies and boycotts. Also, you had me at your stance on the flying crapping birds.
I can’t love this enough. I’m going to bookmark it to come back to when I’m feeling a bit weirded out by human label makers. 😂❤️🔥🌻
Every one of these 🎯
i really enjoyed reading this.
Thanks for commenting on my article and sending the link to your work. Fantastic article. Looking forward to exploring your page to read more.
I’m taking a little mini break from writing but do have another article coming out from Wrongspeak on Monday. It’s a little bit of a different perspective on how I see the world but I had fun writing it and hopefully my points make sense.
My email is jj71073@gmail.com. Would be happy to connect and share.
Thanks,
Jim Jansen
While I am in full support of your ideas... my question goes to the beginning: Why do you care if someone else labels you? I will never give that power to anyone. It's silliness to even have to MAKE a list like this, in my opinion. It's almost granting power to people you don't know, the power to stick you in whatever box they choose -- because, though you listed a bunch here, there will always be more. And that's sort of my point; as Kipling said, "Once you pay Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane." Once you've tacitly acknowledged "they" have the power to decide who and what you are, they always will. Protestations aside.
You’d think this would be common sense - “Don’t judge a book by its cover” was one of the first adages I learned as a child, and it has stuck with me and shaped how I interact with the world. I consider it to be a fundamental value, like the Golden Rule. Which is why I feel completely gobsmacked and lost in this identity-obsessed world we find ourselves in the year 2023. In an age where we can know and be so much, we’ve reduced each other to these shallow concepts and tossed each other into buckets, whether it’s race-based, sex-based or politics-based. Maybe it’s because of our information-overloaded world? Maybe some feel compelled to simplify things? Who knows. I know that I am more than the color of my skin, more than my age, “more than meets the eye.”
Speaking of Transformers, we have another problem of the moment - people claiming identities because they feel them. Males claiming to be women simply because they feel like it, putting on dresses and makeup and maybe even going so far as to have their penis turned inside out into a wound they refer to as a vagina. Our identities are not just what we claim them to be but also how the world receives us, sees us. And a woman is more than a pretty dress. You cannot become a woman simply by donning one and then caricaturizing women’s mannerisms. Just because a man “looks” like a woman and thus claims to be one and demands to be treated like one, we let him into women’s spaces and sports, when again, the idea of a “woman” is much deeper than this - deeper biologically and societally.
So we are taking people at face value and treating them as such. And the media, academia, and (for the moment) democratic politicians are the most culpable in reinforcing identity groups, wreaking more havoc on America and western civilization, in general, than they are ready to admit. Practically every person in the Biden Administration was introduced by their shallow identities - “Introducing this black, gay woman,” “Welcome this trans woman.” Who cares! Tell me about their experience, their competency for the job. Medical schools and others are dropping their standards in an effort to “look” diverse, as if cancer is cured or brain surgeries are successful because of anything other than race-blind knowledge, skills and aptitude. Academia and other once revered institutions are also taking music and art and reducing them to the race of the artist and composer, rather than letting the art simply speak for itself and be whatever it may be.
We are losing the 3-dimensionality of our world, not just because we are glued to our 2-D screens, but because we are treating each other and things that once had meaning like paper dolls.
The only thing I know to do about it is lead by example, for my son, for the people I work and interact with, and continue to call out the stupidity and juvenility of the broad brush strokes people are painted with, and highlight the resulting harms.