Just Stick a Label on Them

               Stereotypes – what are they really?  The truth is that they most often just labels, often negative, that we affix to others, because we are too lazy to go deeper and discover what lies beneath the surface.   I’m guilty of it – and I expect dear reader that you are guilty also, unless you have evolved into a high carbon-based life form.  

In fact, just last night at a New Year’s Eve get together, I told a semi-amusing story about a trip to Scotland when my wife and I were first dating.  The tale weaved in a sub-plot that played upon stereotypical Scottish frugality.   The reference got knowing nods from those that had never set foot in Scotland, and of course I was subtly labeling a whole ethnicity – for laughs.   Never mind that I didn’t mention Scottish generosity during this and other trips to Scotland, it is the negative label that sticks.

Which brings me to this week’s thesis.  Why do we continue to lick the label and slap it in on someone’s forehead, within SECONDS of meeting them??  Research has shown that we make seven assumptions about sometime in the first 11 seconds. (Or it might be 11 assumptions in 7 seconds – but you get the point) It may be true that first impressions count, but that doesn’t mean that those first impressions have much relationship to the person that you have casually labeled.

 Of course, some of those assumptions are clearly tied to appearance whether it’s race, gender, height, weight, hairstyle, clothing choices, tattoos, piercings, perceived age, or dubious facial hair.

Hmm, we say to ourselves. White bearded hipster on the radar. Drinks craft beer and is VERY pretentious. A young Latino male with tattoos in my field of view -  obviously, a gang member and without question, is likely an illegal alien also. Or, perhaps I am meeting a nerdy bespectacled Asian female for the first time, and whom I confidently believe to a polymath at least or musical prodigy.

All those assumptions are probably way off. Perhaps it is the Asian lady who quaffs real ale by the pint, the Hispanic gentlemen was who just accepted to Julliard, and the hipster is an unemployed German who overstayed his tourist visa. And likely none of the above.  But no matter, we have confidentially labeled them, with literally zero evidence and just a glimmer of smug suspicion. 

 And although we are chided consistently to not discriminate against people, based upon an ever-expanding list of unchangeable characteristics and life style preferences, we can’t help ourselves – we are a labeling species, born with a label gun in our brains.   

Consider the unreasonable labels we continue to attach to the Generations.  As a Human Resources, professional, I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have been to earnest seminars and conferences where we solemnly discuss the differences between the generations in a few handy sentences.

The “Greatest Generation” who won WWII and re-built the country (some didn’t, and a proportion were as shiftless and debauched as any generation. before or since)

The Silent Generation – I don’t even know what that means. Was no one talking?

Baby Boomers - about whom I have written extensively as both self-absorbed and steeped in revisionist history. (I am a BB by the way) By all accounts, there were a least 10 million people at Woodstock and nobody voted for Richard Nixon.  (Someone’s lying – just saying)

Generation X -   No one cares or talks about them, but they going to be running the country very shortly. 

Millennials – The new Baby Boomers.  Vilified as lazy, disloyal, tech savvy, and who want a trophy just for showing up,

So, there you go, in a few sentences we have just labeled the entire 300 million plus US population. It’s easy, right? And it really doesn’t have to go beyond the superficial, for us to feel superior or angry or validated or whatever. 

We have an innate desire to put people into boxes, stick a label on them and mail them to our brains. It makes things tidier to imagine that there are no generous people in Scotland, no atheists in Saudi Arabia, or English people with good teeth.  in short, our labels say more about us than about others.  Our labels don’t mean anything, except when we make sweeping assumptions about others that are actively discriminatory. 

 Our culture however, despite all the admonitions to the encourages us to keep on labeling people, so that we can make implied judgments about others.  Newspapers and the Internet of course are the main culprits.

 ‘Part-time Taxi driver and recent immigrant to area, 49 years old, rescues dog from icy river”.

All sorts of labels are implicit in this sentence. What does the employment situation, immigrant status and age of the person, must do with an act of bravery?  Is the implication that all taxi drivers are recent immigrants, that should be looked upon more favorably, or that people approaching 50 are still useful?   

 The news wouldn’t report that an African-American man or a bisexual woman rescued a dog from the icy river – right?  However, unless we assign label of some description, then we can’t make an explicit judgement about that those people.

Perhaps I am being too picky here and there are of course times when labels impact the story. Man, 93 rescues dog. would be kind of relevant. 

Labels aren’t going away, and we are never going to live in a post label society just as we will never live in a post racial world.  Besides, it’s kind of fun, and makes us feel better about ourselves. 

So, label away but just don’t label me.

(By the way, I am labeling this new year “2017” and it has a certain ring to it – don’t you think) 

Until next time – Happy New Year from the Albion Bulldog.