Today ladies and germs I have the prestigious honour of gracing your eyes with yet another of my esoteric pieces. And, as you have most likely deciphered from the working title, it is about labels.
So we all have some kind of label attached to us, whether that relate to our sexuality, interests, looks or overall persona, it is a natural human tendency to classify relative things, objects, people into groups to reassure ourselves and find comfort in the fact that everyone has somewhere to belong, and nothing really challenges our way of thinking. I think the term for it is a “social device“. It is used in society to reinforce the common belief’s held by the majority and assert a feeling of security in John Citizen and his sheltered perception of the world. You would hear it prevalently in the ramblings of conspiracy theorists, and indeed anyone who holds the common belief that the media is pilfering the information, censoring what they regard as bad for the social workings of our culture. Many of you would be aware of the censorship that goes on in China, and the extreme penalties enforced on those that go against their social media regime. The purpose of that is to create a government controlled society that is influenced solely by one party. How does this relate to labels you may ask? Well the reason people label things is because they wish to concur with the social norm, resonate with what is currently accepted (or accepted as being unaccepted). We do this to secure our own views and opinions of the world, because as we grow up, those views are cemented and labels confirmed in our own minds. Thus when someone or something happens that challenges our own perception of what labels, groups, factions and whatnot exist, it is a rattle to the fragile cage of our mind. That is why you hear the older, white-collar conservatives retaining their racist, fascist etc. beliefs. That is what they have come to hold as acceptable, regardless of the contemporary conventions. But things are changing vastly and veraciously, social boundaries are being warped and stretched to encapsulate a much larger and broader range of cultural beliefs and divides (or lack of divides, i.e. cross-overs). I guess this is where I bring it back to the only universal reference point I currently hold, school.
School. The mere word should make you close this tab straight away, but I couldn’t be fucked about your actions, so I’m going to continue on my likely redundant tangent and hopefully unveil something brilliant!
So school is rife with a bundle of labels, majority of which are some adaptation of a derogatory or insulting term. Nerds, sluts, lads, indie kids, desmonds, art-fags, emos, goths, heshions and so on and so on. These social boundaries and conventions of character are set up subconsciously to generate an artificial ‘rule book’, if you will, with which those of uncertainty can safely class people. Through this process, they find refuge in their minds, and reinforce their own view of themselves by comparing themselves to others. Now when I say “Those of uncertainty” I’m not referring to the people who dress hardcore one day and indie the next (like me 
). No, I’m referring to every teenager in existence. For the teenies is a time of supreme change and inner conflict, and so by creating labels and classes with which people can compare themselves, they hope to discover more about themselves. For instance, “Those dudes jeans are retarded dude, I’d never rep that shit ayeeee”. The persona is reinforcing their sense of character by comparing their own beliefs and ideals to others.
So… I guess the thesis behind this rediculous piece of crap is to give you, the reader, an insight into why you might be subject to a label that you may not agree with. It is out of your hands, and if I could offer one piece of advice, it’s just to go along with the flow and try not to make any enemies along the way. People are always going to judge, label, and judge you some more, but it is up to you to choose if and how you will react.
Be cool. Tomm o.x.