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From most to least important....

religion-ex: i have strong (insert religion) values
nationality-ex: proud to be an (insert country)an
ethnicity-ex: never forget i am (insert race)
your job-ex: i am a (insert occupation)
Gender-ex: man, woman
Political views-ex: democrat, republican
physicality-ex: jock, runner, weight lifter
Sexual orientation-ex: straight, gay, asexual
Intelligence-ex: i am a (insert institution) graduate
Humor-ex: the funny/grumpy person

There are a million other ways to define yourself, but i chose the above. Interested to see where religion falls on everyone's list.
And honestly, curious to see who is the first to ignore the OP and go on a tangent about something not on the list.

My list:
Gender
Nationality
Job
Sexual orientation
Physicality
Humor
Intelligence/religion
Ethnicity/political views

mine:

faith/religion - something i hold very dear
job/career - for my family
humor - happiness!

* these three are interchangeable, actually... but definitely my top 3...

others are of lesser importance to me and what i think of others as well... i mean, i don't care if you're gay or lesbian - i see you as a person and be glad to be your friend... don't care about your race/ethnicity/nationality, same as above... definitely don't care about anyone's political views not unless you approve nuclear warfare, lol...

i do engage in forum debates in local forums speaking in vernacular or english, but that's it, only in forums so there would be no altercations (zealous people often tends to hurt other people because of religion, proving that their religious affiliation is false)...

Thats pretty good.
Thanks for taking the plunge on this one!

Originally posted by riv6672
From most to least important....

religion-ex: i have strong (insert religion) values
nationality-ex: proud to be an (insert country)an
ethnicity-ex: never forget i am (insert race)
your job-ex: i am a (insert occupation)
Gender-ex: man, woman
Political views-ex: democrat, republican
physicality-ex: jock, runner, weight lifter
Sexual orientation-ex: straight, gay, asexual
Intelligence-ex: i am a (insert institution) graduate
Humor-ex: the funny/grumpy person

There are a million other ways to define yourself, but i chose the above. Interested to see where religion falls on everyone's list.
And honestly, curious to see who is the first to ignore the OP and go on a tangent about something not on the list.

My list:
Gender
Nationality
Job
Sexual orientation
Physicality
Humor
Intelligence/religion
Ethnicity/political views

I'm not sure I could list these with any certainty, but it's a cool thought experiment.

Nationality means next to nothing to me, beyond a general gratitude that I live in a civilized, industrialized, modern nation. USA as opposed to several other countries does nothing for me, though. Same with gender. Like, I'm happy to be a man, but it's not a source of identity, per se. Same with being straight.

I guess the common thread among all of these is that, too often, identity through one of them includes an aversion to anything that is "other." The most patriotic people tend to be the most xenophobic. The most stereotypically heterosexual, or those who take the most pride in it, tend to be discriminatory toward LGBT. Those who identify strongly with a particular ethnicity tend to be very insular in their experiences and views. Not always, of course. But more so than those who don't identify as strongly with those things.

Much as it may seem odd to many who know me on these forums, my atheism isn't a strong identifier either. Unless we count the compassionate humanism that's a part of most secular worldviews as atheism. They aren't the same thing, and atheism is just a non-belief that, at this point, has very little influence in my daily life. It would be like saying the fact that I don't attend sporting events is how I identify myself. Sports fanatics can identify through sports a lot of times, but very few who aren't sports fans identify as "not a sports fan." It's just off their radar.

So, of your list, only intelligence and humor got me semi-hard. I'd have to think for a while to form an actual list, since most of that is much further down a hypothetical list.

I agree with

I guess the common thread among all of these is that, too often, identity through one of them includes an aversion to anything that is "other."

Not too many people see it that way, though.

It's the kind of statement that would get you mountains of hate mail if you gave it in a public setting. But yeah, nationalism is probably the best example, because there's a depressingly large contingent in America to whom patriotism is just a guise for xenophobia and hatred. Whether overtly stated or implied, "America is great" actually means "American is better." The first is fine; the latter is an unsupported, emotionally driven denigration of others.

As a very patriotic person, i have NO problem agreeing with you 100%.

don't care about nationalism tbh other than basically i feel like we're on a ship together so we have to work towards whats in our interests. but its not like i'm proud to be born in a specific country. i'm just glad i was born in one of the rich ones.

How about the other choices? Specifically religion?

alright so if i had to pick an order from your categories it would basically look like this (arranged in order from most important to least important)

humor/political views/philosophical views/religious views has more to do with your thoughts on the world so it speaks more to your identity than anything else imo. i'm keeping all of these together cause to me they are all a part of the same system which makes up your basic personality.

gender: yea being a dude does shape the way i look at a lot of shit too.

job: determines how much fun i can have because it also determines how much money i have.

race: yea it does have an impact culturally but it's not something i'm really attached to tbh. i like exploring other cultures a bit too cause i get bored with my own after a while.

physicality: i like to look good but i am not dedicated enough to be an athlete or anything like that.

sexual orientation: means little to nothing to me other than defining who i'd like to ****.

nationality: don't care about nationalism tbh other than basically i feel like we're on a ship together so we have to work towards whats in our interests. but its not like i'm proud to be born in a specific country. i'm just glad i was born in one of the rich ones.

Originally posted by riv6672
As a very patriotic person, i have NO problem agreeing with you 100%.

Originally posted by Digi


@red g jacks
Excellent reasoning on your listing criteria. You rock!

There's a bit of a semantics difference here. A job is more important than many of the things I identify as. But, for a funny example, I'm much more likely to say something like "I'm a swing dancer" than "I'm a marketing & communications professional" when talking about myself. Or "sports fan," "board game enthusiast," "musician," etc. I identify more through hobbies and social connections than things like nationality, gender, job, and religion. But at least with job, you have to concede that it's a necessary foundation, and therefore more important by numerous definitions.

Originally posted by Digi
There's a bit of a semantics difference here. A job is more important than many of the things I identify as. But, for a funny example, I'm much more likely to say something like "I'm a swing dancer" than "I'm a marketing & communications professional" when talking about myself. Or "sports fan," "board game enthusiast," "musician," etc. I identify more through hobbies and social connections than things like nationality, gender, job, and religion. But at least with job, you have to concede that it's a necessary foundation, and therefore more important by numerous definitions.

Same for me. Geometric tolerancing never comes up in casual conversations.

Lol, you sent me to Google with that one.

Digi, i get what you're saying but, at least with some jobs, my criteria holds true. Firemen, policemen, actors, folks like that.
I can for sure see where being a data input exec at cogswell cogs might not make your definition list.

To clarify (sorry, was eating), folks with jobs like i listed, as well as politicians, doctor, musician...they might place that job higher up on a list if asked to define themselves like in the OP.

Originally posted by riv6672
From most to least important....

religion-ex: i have strong (insert religion) values
nationality-ex: proud to be an (insert country)an
ethnicity-ex: never forget i am (insert race)
your job-ex: i am a (insert occupation)
Gender-ex: man, woman
Political views-ex: democrat, republican
physicality-ex: jock, runner, weight lifter
Sexual orientation-ex: straight, gay, asexual
Intelligence-ex: i am a (insert institution) graduate
Humor-ex: the funny/grumpy person

There are a million other ways to define yourself, but i chose the above. Interested to see where religion falls on everyone's list.
And honestly, curious to see who is the first to ignore the OP and go on a tangent about something not on the list.

My list:
Gender
Nationality
Job
Sexual orientation
Physicality
Humor
Intelligence/religion
Ethnicity/political views


Gender
Nationality/race (too close to choose between the two)
sexual orientation
Religious views (unshakeable belief in God but not a churchgoer or "biblethumper" as some atheists like to call people who constantly quote the bible)
intelligence


Those qualities above are the most important to me and/or what I believe defines me the most in order of most important to lesser importance.

I'm abstemious & tidy, young & vibrant, immaculately kept & stylish, sensuously mesmeric, interminably studious, inherently adept, retentively faultless, and utterly relentless. I have this monumentally staggering intellect rivaled only by my ambition. I'm a profligate and a megalomaniac.

That's my nature, through grace I'd be:

Eb1TIGvvWWE

Originally posted by Digi

Nationality means next to nothing to me, beyond a general gratitude that I live in a civilized, industrialized, modern nation. USA as opposed to several other countries does nothing for me, though.


Pretty much how I feel. I'm glad about where I live because of modern medicine and convenience but that is where it ends. My caring that the nation is doing well is only because I happen to live here, I wouldn't want to be elsewhere simply because my family and friends are here not because of any loyalty to the nation. I just feel no special connection to someone just because they happened to be born within the same borders over who we actually are as people.

Originally posted by Digi
I'm not sure I could list these with any certainty, but it's a cool thought experiment.

Nationality means next to nothing to me, beyond a general gratitude that I live in a civilized, industrialized, modern nation. USA as opposed to several other countries does nothing for me, though. Same with gender. Like, I'm happy to be a man, but it's not a source of identity, per se. Same with being straight.

I guess the common thread among all of these is that, too often, identity through one of them includes an aversion to anything that is "other." The most patriotic people tend to be the most xenophobic. The most stereotypically heterosexual, or those who take the most pride in it, tend to be discriminatory toward LGBT. Those who identify strongly with a particular ethnicity tend to be very insular in their experiences and views. Not always, of course. But more so than those who don't identify as strongly with those things.

Much as it may seem odd to many who know me on these forums, my atheism isn't a strong identifier either. Unless we count the compassionate humanism that's a part of most secular worldviews as atheism. They aren't the same thing, and atheism is just a non-belief that, at this point, has very little influence in my daily life. It would be like saying the fact that I don't attend sporting events is how I identify myself. Sports fanatics can identify through sports a lot of times, but very few who aren't sports fans identify as "not a sports fan." It's just off their radar.

So, of your list, only intelligence and humor got me semi-hard. I'd have to think for a while to form an actual list, since most of that is much further down a hypothetical list.
This is something I've been trying to articulate with regards to nationalism/patriotism. There can be good or at least benign forms of patriotism and nationalism, but only if they're inclusive rather than exclusive.

What I mean by that is that inclusive patriotism would be taking pride in, say, the accomplishments of the United States and approaching American problems with a kind of community/we're all in this together mindset. Exclusive patriotism is unfortunately the more common strain, and this is unfortunately what even well meaning people often take to be patriotism, in a completely positive light. It boils down to a form of American exceptionalism that applies to foreigners/foreign countries and also to anyone in America who doesn't share your same values.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
This is something I've been trying to articulate with regards to nationalism/patriotism. There can be good or at least benign forms of patriotism and nationalism, but only if they're inclusive rather than exclusive.

What I mean by that is that inclusive patriotism would be taking pride in, say, the accomplishments of the United States and approaching American problems with a kind of community/we're all in this together mindset. Exclusive patriotism is unfortunately the more common strain, and this is unfortunately what even well meaning people often take to be patriotism, in a completely positive light. It boils down to a form of American exceptionalism that applies to foreigners/foreign countries and also to anyone in America who doesn't share your same values.

I like the distinction between inclusion and exclusive. That's a good way to think about it.

Yeah it really is. Nicely put.