In high school u get called preppy or sluuttyyy or more if u hang out with a certain crowd. I wonder why...... I mean it's gotta be jealousy or pride....it's A WTF moment in life of kabels especially at my school -sighs-
I believe the reasin for such "labels" in indeed to make others feel better about themselves to feed their own egos. The Ego is a powerful enemy that lives in all of us, doing anything it can to be the best at everything. It feeds off our fear which makes us want to be better than others. And since students have less control, they creat these labels so they can remain on top. In all honesty, it's pointless in the end. Nothing is ever gained. What they use is force which is nothing when it comes to real power. I don't see how they believe they have the right to mark others off. It's those people who bring down other that are the ones who should have labels....
Labels/stereotypes exist because they're partly true, otherwise they wouldn't exist. The only problem is that people usually only look at one trait. A person can be labeled as many things, some of which may even contradict each other in the labeler's mind, but the first or most noticeable trait that person label the other will usually be the one that sticks.
Labels/stereotypes exist because they're partly true, otherwise they wouldn't exist.-Em,I wear black-so according to people in my school Im an Emo who cuts himself-Which isnt true...O_o
No, it's true the other way around. Emo people wear black. Therefore, they're associated with the color black to such an extent that the relationship turned around from "Emo people wear black" to "Black clothes make you Emo." People need something to base a stereotype off of, otherwise, there wouldn't be a stereotype.
Labels exist because it is a form of identity. Identity is very important to us all as individuals and by existing under a label it unites us with other people who are similar to ourselves and can give us a sense of belonging. However that is only with self-labelling, and the people who deliberately aim to belong to a certain stereotype for that feeling of having a known identity and belonging. It is when people label and stereotype others that it becomes more of an issue, because we judge without even knowing the person. Labelling people and creating stereotypes gives us a basic way to identify people. We all make judgements on other people, we may not think we do, but we do it without thinking for the most part. It doesn't mean that we think is correct, if you think someone is an emo because they wear eyeliner and a lot of black, it doesn't neccessarily mean they are emo, it just means they conform to the to the generalised idea of what it is to be an emo. Basically it is about identity within society; we create labels for ourselves and then impose our judgements onto other people to help to reinforce the ideas behind our own labels.
Humans categorize things by nature. Look at the foods we eat; there are fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, etc. Broadly speaking, it's all food. In music, there's different genres, like rock, rap, techno, country, etc. Why should the people around us be different? It's just a way for us to easily judge others and justify not leaving our own social group. It's just something you've got to accept. A lot of the time, the people upset about stereotypes have inflicted it upon themselves. If you wear black jeans and My Chemical Romance tee shirts, you're going to be labeled as emo. That's the price you pay for dressing like that. Humans also tend to be very childish, and cannot accept one another's differences. It's okay to label people, in my opinion. You just can't make that label sway the way you treat that person. Writing off an entire genre of music is just close minded -- after all, it's music, isn't it? We're all people, and should treat one another as people, whether we fall into the emo, preppy, ****ty, goffik, etc stereotype.
As someone once told me it's: "to organise the chaos" I could go into the social antropology of the situation with it being based on tribal nature. But plain and simple it allows us to pick people quick and easily who we most likely match up to and we make friends that way. Try not to feel down about label yourselfor others. Those labels aren't likely to stay the same.
It's all pretty much been said. I'll only add that we have a limited view of the world and understanding it entirely would take too much effort. it's just easier to categorize things into bulk labels without trying to distinguish within the category. Don't worry about it... sticks and stones and all that.
Actually I disagree. Labels aren't always negative things. Boy and girl are labels - society is built around these labels and they are necessary for balance. Every label has an opposite. Girl/boy, nerd/jock, child/adult etc. Sure, when people discriminate against people who bear these labels that's when the problem exists. So labels are a double edged sword imo, society has to have order so labels exist and some people descriminate against some labels, causing conflict. About the people who bring down others who should have labels, they allready have them as they are just as much a part of society as the next person.
