Boyle wrote:

DaveDodo007 wrote:Erm... You seem to have no concept of what labels are, so enjoy your bucket.

No? Alright then. Could you help me out here, then?

You meet someone for the first time and that person has no preconceptions of you, one of the first things you say to them during an introduction is look at all this baggage I'm carrying around. Smart move.

OlivierK wrote:

Lowpro wrote:

DaveDodo007 wrote:What adult attaches a label to themselves as it is beyond pathetic. Can anybody have their whole world experience and beliefs summed up in one or a few words. How simplistic must your world view be to be able to do that. Think how complex and complicated your interactions are with the world at large is. Think how nounce your inter species reactions are, your human relationships are going to be stellar, can you really pigeon hole them into a box. It is very sad that people limit themselves in such a way, curtailing your imagination rather than embracing it, looks like crabs in a bucket to me.

Communication majors collectively facepalm =\

Not just communication majors, I assure you.

Dave, to make it clear, this: "Can anybody have their whole world experience and beliefs summed up in one or a few words." is ridiculous strawman. But you gave it a good whack, and maybe even burned it for good measure. Given that nobody holds the position you attacked, I hope it was fun for you. Laughing at the epic fail was fun for me

Then pray tell me what is the point of labeling yourself if not to announce your confirmation bias and prejudices that you have built up over your lifetime?

DaveDodo007 wrote:

Lowpro wrote:

DaveDodo007 wrote:What adult attaches a label to themselves as it is beyond pathetic. Can anybody have their whole world experience and beliefs summed up in one or a few words. How simplistic must your world view be to be able to do that. Think how complex and complicated your interactions are with the world at large is. Think how nounce your inter species reactions are, your human relationships are going to be stellar, can you really pigeon hole them into a box. It is very sad that people limit themselves in such a way, curtailing your imagination rather than embracing it, looks like crabs in a bucket to me.

Communication majors collectively facepalm =\

Wut?

This post was so disingenuous that I didn't notice it at first. Nowhere in the above paragraph did I advocate banning labels as I even used one in the above post, 'adult' it should be obvious that what I'm saying is using 'a label' to sum up all your life preconceptions is a pretty stupid thing to do. Feel free to disagree with me on that but I would prefer it if you don't misrepresent my argument.

One particular use of self-labeling, which seems rather popular, is to provide cover.

Let's say, for example, that someone wants to bugger little boys. Admitting it isn't likely to get them anywhere. However, get into a position where people automatically think that they are good, such as by joining the priesthood or starting a foundation, and it makes it a lot easier. Convince people you're a conservative, and you can borrow as much money as you want for a war. Convince people you're a feminist, and you can get away with a lot of sexism. Convince people you're liberal or progressive, and you can ramp up domestic spying on citizens.

The reason this works is that group identification is so strong. It would be perfectly reasonable to point out that a lot of people who call themselves feminists (or liberals or conservatives) do not resemble their labels in any reasonable fashion that fits the dictionary definition. (When was the last time a conservative conserved anything?) But the group identification makes that well nigh impossible. People defend the label and not the substance.

epepke wrote:One particular use of self-labeling, which seems rather popular, is to provide cover.

Let's say, for example, that someone wants to bugger little boys. Admitting it isn't likely to get them anywhere. However, get into a position where people automatically think that they are good, such as by joining the priesthood or starting a foundation, and it makes it a lot easier. Convince people you're a conservative, and you can borrow as much money as you want for a war. Convince people you're a feminist, and you can get away with a lot of sexism. Convince people you're liberal or progressive, and you can ramp up domestic spying on citizens.

The reason this works is that group identification is so strong. It would be perfectly reasonable to point out that a lot of people who call themselves feminists (or liberals or conservatives) do not resemble their labels in any reasonable fashion that fits the dictionary definition. (When was the last time a conservative conserved anything?) But the group identification makes that well nigh impossible. People defend the label and not the substance.

Totally agree, look how many people label themselves freethrought (thinkers), skeptics and tell you they have critical thinking abilities and then go on a witch hunt on nothing but hearsay evidence.