Mislabled and mislead

Posted by admin on Oct 21, 2008 in Community | 0 comments

In front of me is a can of pop and on its side is a big, fat label telling me what I can expect to find inside. We don’t reserve labeling just for our food, though—we take special relish in labeling the people we see every day. You know the stereotypes: jocks, punks, preps and geeks. You’ve even probably been a couple of these yourself.

Growing up, I’ve had my fair share of labels. For example, I was home-schooled. People are always surprised by that, and I like to think it’s because I don’t fit the stereotype—you know, incredibly smart but terribly awkward.

In grade nine, I walked and talked the surfer label (the standard in my home state of Hawaii). In grade 11, I traded my surf shorts for skinny jeans. People labeled me a punk and I got invited to skate parks though I didn’t even own a skateboard. In my freshman year of college, I hung out with a lot of goths and started listening to Marilyn Manson. That made me a demon-worshipper—so said an acquaintance, who I soon wrote off as one of those Hot Topic-shopping anarchists who secretly enjoy their daily Starbucks. Hypocrites.

That’s the problem with labels. People label you as such-and-such and then expect certain behaviours. Or vice versa—people see certain behaviour and expect you to be a member of a specific social group. That can create a lot of problems and confusion.

I grew up in the church, so people might label me a Christian fundamentalist. If I mentioned that my actual faith leans toward agnostic theism, you may say I’m a heathen (or just confused). I’m more Asian than anything else, but my supposedly brainy ethnicity hasn’t done jack for my GPA. I’ve danced with guys at raves; I guess that makes me gay. Too bad for the boys: I like girls (one in particular). I go to Trinity Western University, but I’m far from rich. I don’t even own a car.

I’m sure you can think of your own examples. If you told me you were voting for McCain, I’d label you a right-wing conservative. If you are voting for Obama, it would make you a “radical leftist.” It’s a good thing you’re not voting for Chuck Baldwin; he’s so weird it simply defies labeling.

The labels on our food tell us exactly what we’re getting inside. Though it’s unfortunate that the labels we use on people don’t work the same.