Labels and Freedom

Note: Some of the language and examples provided in this piece may be hard to read, or may be considered offensive to some people. My examples are intended to provide context for my points and are not intended to offend or hurt anybody.

A few months ago, when I still had an Instagram account, I was looking at a post by an artist I admire and respect. She had posted her concerns over the fact that Facebook/Instagram policies, and social media for the most part, had become the heavy hand of censorship. I agreed with her comments—and her frustration—about how social media was wielding its incredible power to censor everything that has to do with sex, sexual expression, the human body, and—most importantly—women’s expression of sexuality. Only a few people made comments because, despite the fact she has almost 5,000 followers, only a small fraction of them actually see her posts.

I want to point out here that she is a legitimate artist who has exhibited in shows, sold her artwork, and been recognized as an artist of note with a viewpoint that many people acknowledge needs to be heard. More importantly, an artist who is using her art as a platform to talk about women, equality, and sexuality.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon from Pexels

So one comment that appeared on her post simply said, “typical, liberal bullshit. Obviously a Democrat with no moral standards.” Because this artist has a no-troll policy and—rather wisely—chooses not to engage people who aren’t looking to further a discussion, but rather condemn or insult, she deleted the comment.

That got me thinking. First—I reached out to her and asked her a few questions—she is actually registered as “unaffiliated,” meaning she is an Independent, if we are using labels. She is liberal about some topics and, like many people, conservative about others. She chooses not to identify herself by her politics or her passions. She believes that, because we live in the United States, people should have the ability to be what they want and to change their minds at any point in their lives. To her, freedom means that she can be who she wants to be regardless of anybody else’s opinion.

Freedom.

As I looked at the comment before she deleted it, I decided to explore this person’s profile. They had not posted anything on Instagram. Zero posts. And the profile read, “Another Freedom loving American who believes in God.” Hmmmm. Fascinating, as Spock might say.

So, what is FREEDOM exactly? And then it hit me. Labels are, for the most part, the polar opposite of freedom. As humans, we are not far removed from our own tendency to classify things in order to ensure our survival. The rabbit, to our primitive parents, did not pose a threat. The lion, however, was very much a threat and something to be avoided. We started early in our development to classify things to make our lives easier. This can be eaten or this cannot be eaten because it makes us sick or kills us. This is painful to touch or this is pleasant to touch. Remarkably, in our current modern era, we still rely on these generalizations. Labels, if you will.

These labels inhabit a great deal of our lives. Worse than that, they actually dictate how we experience the world and often times dictate if we will be successful or not in certain situations. For example, women who are trying to advance in a business environment where the leaders believe that women have no place there—and thus, they have no power—will struggle to be taken seriously and not get paid the same or advance the same as their male counterparts. Someone with visible tattoos, is often labeled as not professional, and may struggle to get hired in more traditional or professional jobs (I almost put this in quotes, but bear in mind I don’t love the use of traditional or professional when describing these things, but I have first hand experience of recruiters saying to me that they didn’t consider someone because he/she had too many visible tattoos and, therefore, they were not well-suited for a professional role. In addition, they actually told applicants that they should consider seeking non-traditional roles because of the tattoos. Sigh.). Individuals who have worked in manual labor jobs are labeled as “blue-collar,” and may not be considered for office jobs because of this. These are just a few examples of how labels, particularly in modern society, work against all of us.

I attended an all-boys Catholic School where homophobia and prejudice was rampant. Growing up, it was not uncommon to call other boys “fags” because they displayed any number of traits that might be considered some form of weakness. The concept of homosexuality was, perhaps, the worst type of insult you could level against another Catholic boy. I was the News Editor of the school paper during my junior year. At a time, during the 1980’s, when AIDS was ravaging the country and, most importantly, thousands of gay men. I wanted to write a story about the human side of the AIDS crisis because I was close to a person who was dying of AIDS. I was told by the other editors that nobody “cares about gay people” and that, “we don’t want to legitimize the gay lifestyle.” Then one senior, who was particularly obnoxious, had to add, “yeah, we don’t give a shit about fags.”

The label “FAG” and, more generally, “HOMOSEXUAL,” were completely negative. In such a way as to convey the idea that, if you happened to be attracted to the same sex, you were the lowest form of human. Humans have done this for sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnic background, religious beliefs, and even sports team loyalties. The list is too numerous to include completely. Labels are seldom used as a means in modern society to convey positive sentiments about the group or groups we have labeled.

NOTE: I will acknowledge, and I also support, that many people have tried to reclaim labels that were previously very negative in an effort to reduce the negative association of that label. However, the gains made in these areas with certain words haven’t necessarily changed perceptions broadly.

On top of that, we know that when labeling is done to single out a particular group it is also, most often, used to discriminate against that group. This has profound impacts on the psychology of those who believe themselves to be a part of that group. If you are not familiar with the Brown Eyed, Blue Eyed experiments done by an elementary school teacher in Iowa to show the impact of racism, check it out here. It is riveting stuff.

If we truly believe in freedom, then we owe it to ourselves to think hard about our own tendencies to label others. If freedom means anything to you, then you know that a label is a form of repression. That it inhibits a person’s ability to do what they want to do and it has profound implications on their psychological well-being. This country was founded on the principle that freedom is “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and that it is an “unalienable” (it can’t be taken away or given up) right.

I would ask that we all think hard about how the use of labels gets in the way of what we hold so dear.

- M

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