Welcome to Gaia's forums, where millions of members gather to discuss random stuff, make new friends,
complain about life, argue about nothing, laugh at dumb pictures, discuss serious issues and/or curse like sailors.
Lurking is creepy. Quit skulking in the shadows and join the conversation!
Register to reply
 |
Every one knows that labels seem to big a big part of the average teens life, so answer me this; if there is a point, what is it, and how harmful can they be?
|
|
|
...
Like an adjective? I think they're ******** useful, adjectives are. |
 |
|
|
Angels_Satire ... Like an adjective? I think they're ******** useful, adjectives are. No offense meant Angel, but you're kidding, right? You know what the OP means by labels, right? Anyway, they serve no purpose but to categorize people, and separate and alienate them in doing so. |
|
|
Vincent the Artist Angels_Satire ... Like an adjective? I think they're ******** useful, adjectives are. No offense meant Angel, but you're kidding, right? You know what the OP means by labels, right? Anyway, they serve no purpose but to categorize people, and separate and alienate them in doing so. Shhh! I'm being stupid today! |
|
|
|
TwilighterEmbraced Every one knows that labels seem to big a big part of the average teens life, so answer me this; if there is a point, what is it, and how harmful can they be? There is none but to ostricize. |
|
|
Angels_Satire Vincent the Artist Angels_Satire ... Like an adjective? I think they're ******** useful, adjectives are. No offense meant Angel, but you're kidding, right? You know what the OP means by labels, right? Anyway, they serve no purpose but to categorize people, and separate and alienate them in doing so. Shhh! I'm being stupid today! Oh. Having fun? |
|
|
|
Labels don't have to be a bad thing. They can help you find people who share your interests, and therefore help people of like minds organize. For example, furrie is a label for a person who likes anthropomorphic animal art. It has, for me allowed me to get in contact with and interact with some of the most fun and amazing people I have ever met.
The only problem is that with labels with come sigmas. People will attach stereotypes and therefore use labels negatively. If the group happens to be poor at policing out troublesome problems, take for example Twilight Fans and their problem with huge zealots who will react violently to those who don't like the books, you get an even bigger problem where you cannot really bring up what you like without being attacked and negatively associated with a behavior/ideal that you may or may not have anything to do with. So, is it harmful, or not? That depends upon how the group under the label react and deal with their group. That alone will affect how people perceive them and the label. |
|
|
The general category of labels is not inherently bad or good; what matters is the reasons and feelings behind each individual label, which can vary on the label itself, the people it describes, how it describes them, and who is using it.
|
|
|
|
Sanguvixen Labels don't have to be a bad thing. They can help you find people who share your interests, and therefore help people of like minds organize. For example, furrie is a label for a person who likes anthropomorphic animal art. It has, for me allowed me to get in contact with and interact with some of the most fun and amazing people I have ever met. The only problem is that with labels with come sigmas. People will attach stereotypes and therefore use labels negatively. If the group happens to be poor at policing out troublesome problems, take for example Twilight Fans and their problem with huge zealots who will react violently to those who don't like the books, you get an even bigger problem where you cannot really bring up what you like without being attacked and negatively associated with a behavior/ideal that you may or may not have anything to do with. So, is it harmful, or not? That depends upon how the group under the label react and deal with their group. That alone will affect how people perceive them and the label. thanks. good point with the twilight fans. some people go way too far. |
|
|
Labeling is pretty much essential for the way the brain works. It would take too long to individually assess every aspect of someone/something, so it creates groupings and generalizations.
It's the same way with the high school mind. It takes too long to assess members of an out group, so they create things to make it easier to process. The problem comes in the fact that many (even those outside of this age group) don't want to take the time to try to move past this process for a more enlightened view of an individual. It's not necessarily a nice thing, but it will never go away. |
|
|
|
They're quite useful. I am not an athlete, stock broker, or car dealer. These labels are not necessarily negative, but they refer to groups I do not belong to and so by denying that I fit these labels, people know not to expect certain behaviours from me.
|
|
|
TwilighterEmbraced Sanguvixen Labels don't have to be a bad thing. They can help you find people who share your interests, and therefore help people of like minds organize. For example, furrie is a label for a person who likes anthropomorphic animal art. It has, for me allowed me to get in contact with and interact with some of the most fun and amazing people I have ever met. The only problem is that with labels with come sigmas. People will attach stereotypes and therefore use labels negatively. If the group happens to be poor at policing out troublesome problems, take for example Twilight Fans and their problem with huge zealots who will react violently to those who don't like the books, you get an even bigger problem where you cannot really bring up what you like without being attacked and negatively associated with a behavior/ideal that you may or may not have anything to do with. So, is it harmful, or not? That depends upon how the group under the label react and deal with their group. That alone will affect how people perceive them and the label. thanks. good point with the twilight fans. some people go way too far. You are welcome. Yeah...that leads into another problem. Sometimes new groups pop up and the individuals do not stop to think before doing stuff. So you end up with the mixing up of labels syndrome. It's like opening up a can that is labeled peas and getting cranberry sauce. I fall under the label of Raver. I wear Raver pants. Sometimes I wear all black, although I do wear color, such as red, and blue. Recently however some fans of Twilight, and a good handful from each area in the US, have taken to wearing all black because they think it makes them look more like Vampires. Now people who wear just a few items from Hot Topic, like for me wearing their Raver Pants...means an association with a community they have nothing to do with. Now people think Goth means Twilight Fan. They also think wearing black means Twilight Fan. South Park didn't have it wrong when they did that. So that is one of the problems with labels anyway, is when one label picks something up it can force other groups into an association even when the two have nothing to do with each other. If the other group does have issues, watch out. Please realize I am not attacking Twilight I am simply using it because it is a current thing that makes it easier to get the point across. It's like with collars. It shows up in many sub-cultures but people tend to think of only one thing because they are not capable of broadening their minds and the knowledge. Collars are part of the Punk, Goth, Raver, Furrie, Anime(Neko) and BSMD sub-cultures/labels if you look into. |
|
|
|
Generalizations make the world go around. What is a tree? You could say a tree is a tall thing. Buildings are tall, are they trees? Of course not! Trees are plants- does that make a berry bush a tree? No, it has to be a tall plant. So then, a tall berry bush?- still not a tree. Are all trees tall? No, some are smaller.
So then, it isn't exactly easy to accuratly narrow down what trees are- but does that mean with every single large plant, we have to look at it and think 'what is this?' No, people have a good general idea of what trees are- and that fits the generalization pretty well. Sure, two trees- even two of the same species- are different entities- but they carry most of the same characteristics. If you see a dog, it will probably have teeth and bark, ect. People carry this over towards humans. If you see someone who looks what you could consider angry, they might mean you harm. If you see someone who looks "goth", they're probably going to act... like goths. Of course these generalizations fit much less with people, because people strive NOT to fit some generalizations, but strive TO fit others- but they are still formed. If you really don't like being 'labeled', stop dressing like the label, emo kid. |
|
|
Sanguvixen TwilighterEmbraced Sanguvixen Labels don't have to be a bad thing. They can help you find people who share your interests, and therefore help people of like minds organize. For example, furrie is a label for a person who likes anthropomorphic animal art. It has, for me allowed me to get in contact with and interact with some of the most fun and amazing people I have ever met. The only problem is that with labels with come sigmas. People will attach stereotypes and therefore use labels negatively. If the group happens to be poor at policing out troublesome problems, take for example Twilight Fans and their problem with huge zealots who will react violently to those who don't like the books, you get an even bigger problem where you cannot really bring up what you like without being attacked and negatively associated with a behavior/ideal that you may or may not have anything to do with. So, is it harmful, or not? That depends upon how the group under the label react and deal with their group. That alone will affect how people perceive them and the label. thanks. good point with the twilight fans. some people go way too far. You are welcome. Yeah...that leads into another problem. Sometimes new groups pop up and the individuals do not stop to think before doing stuff. So you end up with the mixing up of labels syndrome. It's like opening up a can that is labeled peas and getting cranberry sauce. I fall under the label of Raver. I wear Raver pants. Sometimes I wear all black, although I do wear color, such as red, and blue. Recently however some fans of Twilight, and a good handful from each area in the US, have taken to wearing all black because they think it makes them look more like Vampires. Now people who wear just a few items from Hot Topic, like for me wearing their Raver Pants...means an association with a community they have nothing to do with. Now people think Goth means Twilight Fan. They also think wearing black means Twilight Fan. South Park didn't have it wrong when they did that. So that is one of the problems with labels anyway, is when one label picks something up it can force other groups into an association even when the two have nothing to do with each other. If the other group does have issues, watch out. Please realize I am not attacking Twilight I am simply using it because it is a current thing that makes it easier to get the point across. It's like with collars. It shows up in many sub-cultures but people tend to think of only one thing because they are not capable of broadening their minds and the knowledge. Collars are part of the Punk, Goth, Raver, Furrie, Anime(Neko) and BSMD sub-cultures/labels if you look into. Yeah, i get what you mean and i know that you're not picking on twilight fans. I was, for lack of a better phrase, a fan of the dark side way before i read twilight, and now instead of kids at school seeing me, they see me as the vampire chick who likes twilight instead of the goth girl. i dont really care about either one but still... |
|
|
|
TwilighterEmbraced Sanguvixen TwilighterEmbraced Sanguvixen Labels don't have to be a bad thing. They can help you find people who share your interests, and therefore help people of like minds organize. For example, furrie is a label for a person who likes anthropomorphic animal art. It has, for me allowed me to get in contact with and interact with some of the most fun and amazing people I have ever met. The only problem is that with labels with come sigmas. People will attach stereotypes and therefore use labels negatively. If the group happens to be poor at policing out troublesome problems, take for example Twilight Fans and their problem with huge zealots who will react violently to those who don't like the books, you get an even bigger problem where you cannot really bring up what you like without being attacked and negatively associated with a behavior/ideal that you may or may not have anything to do with. So, is it harmful, or not? That depends upon how the group under the label react and deal with their group. That alone will affect how people perceive them and the label. thanks. good point with the twilight fans. some people go way too far. You are welcome. Yeah...that leads into another problem. Sometimes new groups pop up and the individuals do not stop to think before doing stuff. So you end up with the mixing up of labels syndrome. It's like opening up a can that is labeled peas and getting cranberry sauce. I fall under the label of Raver. I wear Raver pants. Sometimes I wear all black, although I do wear color, such as red, and blue. Recently however some fans of Twilight, and a good handful from each area in the US, have taken to wearing all black because they think it makes them look more like Vampires. Now people who wear just a few items from Hot Topic, like for me wearing their Raver Pants...means an association with a community they have nothing to do with. Now people think Goth means Twilight Fan. They also think wearing black means Twilight Fan. South Park didn't have it wrong when they did that. So that is one of the problems with labels anyway, is when one label picks something up it can force other groups into an association even when the two have nothing to do with each other. If the other group does have issues, watch out. Please realize I am not attacking Twilight I am simply using it because it is a current thing that makes it easier to get the point across. It's like with collars. It shows up in many sub-cultures but people tend to think of only one thing because they are not capable of broadening their minds and the knowledge. Collars are part of the Punk, Goth, Raver, Furrie, Anime(Neko) and BSMD sub-cultures/labels if you look into. Yeah, i get what you mean and i know that you're not picking on twilight fans. I was, for lack of a better phrase, a fan of the dark side way before i read twilight, and now instead of kids at school seeing me, they see me as the vampire chick who likes twilight instead of the goth girl. i dont really care about either one but still... Somehow I think the stereotype as a Goth chick is better but then again my best friend is Goth, or at least Cybergoth so...I know that Goth isn't exactly a bad label. It's all how you look into it. |
|
