STOP USING LABELS!! !!

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I have had enough of people using labels! Stop calling people who don't have AS, 'NT'! Stop calling people who cut their wrists, 'emo'! Stop calling people who wear black, 'goths'! No one likes it when people label them, and neither do I! Gah!


I had to get that out before I got pissed off even more...

They say that if they can pigeonhole you, they can then not take you seriously. However, some people do deserve these labels. I don't call people who slit their wrists 'emo'. I call them 'in need of urget help'. Whiny little numbnuts are who I call emo.

Why not use NT? We can use it in two contexts: to describe non-sufferers of AS in general, and to insult anyone who has an IQ below that of the common neanderthal, and with a percent as much social graces and empathy...

Using it in the first case is fine. Using it in the second case, well, even if the two groups that the name has been given to are easily differentiable, by both the groups and those using the label, I guess that's ok? I just don't see it as a likely scenario.

I guess it is similar to things such as male and female, gay and straight, etc. None of those labels are inherently negative, but can be made negative.

Um, NTs have an IQ below a neanderthal? Given how some people with AS are interested in possible neanderthal heritage, that might be somewhat insulting to them.

And NTs have only a percent as much social graces and empathy? Sounds like you're describing someone with AS!

I think labels are very helpful to a certain but limited extent, but that labeling quickly can reach a critical mass where it becomes destructive.

I abhor labels used to insult...emo, goth and the like...stupid words, generally used to insult people for their uniqueness these days. Anyone who expresses emotional distress suddenly becomes an emo, anyone who wears a lot of black or listens to heavy music becomes a goth... nevermind the reasons for their choices or what other qualities the person has... And the same is becoming true of NT...it is used as an insult...and no doubt, somewhere, others are using, or will use, autism/AS as an insult too. Someone once said to me, 'labelling is for canned peas' and I have to agree in most instances.

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Last edited by Graelwyn on 14 Mar 2007, 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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I agree with graelwyn... once a label is used as an insult, or just to lump someone into a group for stereotyping, it's wrong. But if it weren't for the label of "Asperger's," I wouldn't have found my way here. So a label is useful as a sign or marker, to help one find one's way.

I just call those people as*holes (or jerks, if you'd prefer), but I don't like labels.

Last edited by DejaQ on 14 Mar 2007, 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Labels are for ret*ds. You can't put people into categories; people are too different from one another.

RedMage,

I fully agree, for one I do not know what an Emo is, or care. So why direct meaningless words at anything?

Words should define. RedMage is RedMage like, nothing else is. Female might come before Aussie, and even teen covers more than I mean. All are unique singular creations.

I think the issue is, we can never define ourselves in an accurate positive way as long as we project vauge labels onto others.

Being yourself is a great quest, I am not like anything. I am some things.

I have never seen a matched pair on WP, so how can there be classes of things?

The use of vauge words excuses vauge thinking. As thinking is all we have, and words the way to express it, we damage the only ability we have.

We do confront a common identity problem. We are here. Turnips cannot be defined in terms of geese, or even carrots. We are not something, because of what we are not. That is for Philosophy Majors. I do not know what I am, but I do relate to WP. Not a match, but closer than I have been before.

Even at the local level, if I define something as having Graelwynitis, or RedMage Syndrome, it is a waste of words. I am good at finding order in things, this place confounds me. Not a pair. Each can only be defined in terms of it's self. I can learn from that. I learn nothing from those other words.

I have fallen into using aspie, but see that it blinds me to what is really there. WPeers might cover the range without wrong defining. I will try.

This is a clear category, and needs a label. NT seems wrong though, as it excludes all other divergence that someone may have. I like NAS for the opposite, but don't know if anyone would understand it - I could just start using it, I guess; seems like the AS way to treat the issue.

I am not sure using the word 'ret*d' is appropriate...isn't that kind of hypocritical? Either that or it is highly insulting to those who do have learning issues etc and might be labelled a 'ret*d'. I abhor that word. It should be eradicated from the English language. I don't think it serves much function anymore since most people use it as some sort of insult.

I disagree. To me, a label is a way to assosiate with something or to be simmular. To not have a label is to be nothing. A label can also be a name to me. For example, I consider RedMage a label since I can assosiate you with it. Leporidae is a label. Graelwyn is a label. Quatermass is a label. I wear glasses. Hence, I can assosiate myself with the word "glasses". Glasses, is a label. The glasses are brown and the those glasses belong to me. Hence, "Brown" is a label.

In otherwords, words ARE labels.

To get rid of labels all together would be to destroy words and descriptives. Without words, we can't: Talk, communicate, reach the scientific age we have now, and much more. We would have instead evolved over time into something new to adapt to the everchanging enviroment and our species will become nothing.


The philosiphy aside, there are some negative labels we can get rid of and easily replace with something postitive. I'm all for getting rid of words like: Emo, goth, and etc. I don't agree with getting rid of NT alltogether, though. Just the negative double meaning so we can keep on calling people without AS "NT" without offending anyone.

When we work hard at it, we do have such things. And when I said Neanderthal, I meant the common, 'ooga-booga' perception....