Uncouth PerspectivesNot on the rug, man.

This may be a repeat, but I want to rant a little about labels in general. I hinted at some thoughts yesterday, but it’s been a while since I’ve talked about it, so perhaps it is time for a refresher.

I hate labels. I hate stereotypes. I had anything that predispositions a person towards something else, especially if it is another person. A person should be judged as a person, as an individual, not by his or her specific race, nationality, etc. This is not simply anti-descrimination rhetoric. This is the simple truth that all too often on a person-to-person level, people pre-judge because of meaningless and trite things.

Yesterday, I said that I might be labeled as a “compassionate atheist moderate conservative”. Two of those labels are almost ANTI labels. If you break it apart, it is really “compassionate atheist” and “moderate conservative”. In addition, we might add “atheist conservative”. You see, when someone announces they are a conservative, the stereotype associated with it is a radical religious “right-winger” … so it need to be quailified.. I am neither radical nor religious. But THAT needs qualifying, because the stereotype associated with atheist is huuuuuuge.

I can’t avoid acknowledging that they exist. At one point in my life, I tried. I wouldn’t even respond to certain words or phrases. But, that is simply ridiculous. Someone (or perhaps many people) once argued that it is human nature to categorize things. I spent a lot of energy arguing against that viewpoint… but I have perhaps a better answer to it now: who cares?

I mean really, so what if it is natural to categorize things, even humans based off of traits? What I care about is how an individual judges another individual. I don’t care if you think that all poor people are just lazy leeches… if you genuinely interact with poor people, you will find one (and more than one!) that is not. And if you think that all right people are insensitive, money-grubbers.. again, if you genuinely interact with rich people, you will find one (and more than one!) that is not.

So what it comes down to for me is not wether or not it is human nature to categorize things. What is comes down to is that it is a learned behavior to pre-judge an individual because of some lame categorization.

And a bad one at that.

Okay, let’s get down to business. I feel like a person stuck in the middle of everything. If I were to use labels (and you know simply how much I adore labels), I might call myself a compassionate atheist moderate conservative. Who the hell is on my side?

The bottom line is that one of the reasons that I despise categorization and stereotyping is that I personally do not fit into those categories… but, more importantly, I also cannot choose to be part of a mainstream group if I did.

Take, for example, politics. I am very into politics and in perhaps a slightly different life, I would be much more actively involved; how knows, I may still be one day. The thing is that in today’s political enivronment, there’s not many groups that I idenifity with nor could work with. If you take the standard mantra of conservative and liberal (it pains me to enough use these words in this context), I am what you might call a social liberal and fiscal conservative. But even these descriptors are not accurate.

I do not fit in with the camp labeled as liberals. I do not believe in the wonders of government regulation, I do not believe the current welfare system is worth squat, and, for me personally, protesting is a waste of time. god damn dirty hippies.
I definitely do not belong with the camp labeled conservatives. The defensive budget is not the only budget, the executive branch can shove it, and I’m not Christian. Stupid, corrupt bigots.
What, you say? One or both of those is a bit extreme (well, we knooooow conservatives are corrupt, but liberals are not hippies!). Ah-ha! You have taken the first step to realizing that the world is not black or white and people are not liberal or conservative. There are many people who would have you believe that the country is super-polarized, but those are just the people who are getting listened to–that is, the people who are saying these things are the people who are yelling the most.

That makes me wonder if what it takes is to simply yell a bit. I dunno, but I do know a couple of things. 1) I have a voice and I use it. 2) You should, too. 3) And don’t tell me to become some third party.

They’re just a bunch of weenies.