Originally posted by Scribble
It's obvious we come from the same school of thought on this one. It's probably just our individual life experiences that have shaped our current outlooks.Here's one of the issues with all of the labels stuff: people are great at mimicking. They love fads and trends. If these labels keep being mashed into our heads, they'll become buzzwords just like everything else seems to turn into. Yeah, I agree with the use of basic terms such as gay and straight and bisexual and transgender and such, because they're kind of essential just simply as definitions to base other definitions on. But the more outlandish terms we conjure up, the less seriously it'll be taken.
I have smashed down the rigid labels that society has tried to plant on me. I know who I am, which is to say, really, that I don't truly know who I am, and I am happy with that. I'm not 'straight' – I want to have sex with women, but I often find men attractive, but not so much that I'm 'bi'. I have a cock, but I am as much in touch with the feminine inside of me as I am the masculine, to the point where they may as well be interchangeable. Yes, I am 'White' or Caucasian or whatever, but as a nationality, I identify as British, a country with a huge range of races and cultures, so I identify with their culture in similar ways I do with the purely 'White' culture. I don't rely on labels and I feel so much better for it. I am, simply, me, whatever the **** that is. Yes, we do need to challenge the Patriarchy that does exist in the world, we do need to fight the bigotry, and the classism and racism and everything, but like you said, let's do it together. Not as Blacks and Whites, or Men and Women, or Gays and Straights, just do it as people. Change the world without bringing in another system just as complex and prone to issues such as the world of separation that all of these terms so many people cling to want to bring in.
Terms and labels were important, back when that's all they had, socially. You had to be "gay and proud", otherwise you'd just be another person stuck in a world that hated them without anything to help you stand up to it all. The world isn't like that now. We're changing as people, and I think the next logical step is to bring down the pigeonholes we get rammed into. We solve our own individual problems as well as our global society's problems at the same time. The nasty, bigoted side of the world is one problem, but we all have our own problems, too. So let's do both at once.
I do my bit. I be as nice as I can, and maybe that's not as angelic as you, but hey, I don't care. I'm happy with who I am in every respect, regardless of inherent or learned flaws.
It's great that you've discovered your true self while shoplifting Socrates, but if someone feels better using labels (eg straight, Bi, queer etc) for themselves, why get all uppity and give them shit for it or be dismissive?
It's just mean; I think that was Bardock's original point, or at least in part.