Stuart's Thoughts  3/262016

Labels and Such

I cringe whenever I hear someone condemned as not being a “true” conservative or a “good” Christian, a “loyal” Democrat or some other politically or otherwise charged label.  Why do so many people covet labels?  Labels do nothing for a person other than to restrict them as to how others define the label and pass judgement on it.  What is a “true” conservative or a “loyal” Democrat?  Is it a person who, like a robot, agrees 100% with the official party line? How about a “good” Christian?  Is it a person that totally agrees with everything in the Bible and how should we regard a not totally “good” Christian and what about “bad Christians?

Personally, I don’t want anything to do with labels.  I don’t want to be put in any political coral.  I’ve stated that my preferred style for decision making is what I have called “Probabilistic Rationalism” and, as such, will certainly be regarded as conservative on some occasions and liberal on others.  I could care less about how my decision is classified by others on a ideological basis.  I only want it to be the one decision that I regard as having the best chance of achieving the desired objective.  To illustrate this, I can use a well-worn example.  Is it better to help a poor man by “giving him a fish” or “teaching him to fish”.  Both Liberals and Conservatives claim they want to solve the problem but classically, Liberals are seen as coming down primarily on the “giving” while Conservatives  seen as coming down primarily on the “teaching”.  My personal solution would depend on whether the poor person is in immediate danger  of starvation or if he has time to learn to fish in which case he could pursue this more long-term solution.  In addressing one issue, others may regard me as a Liberal while in addressing another issue, others may regard me as a Conservative.  A long as I am choosing the best solution to a problem, as I see it, I couldn’t care less.

Religious labels are even a more highly charged issue.  Most of us are born into families with pre-existing religious labels.  Your parents may be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu etc., thus, so are you before you utter your first cry.  While many people would consider this very appropriate, consider its very high cost.  Many of the most bloody battles in history have come about simply because of these labels.  While I may be in the minority, I would prefer to consider religious labels from simply the historic perspective.  I truly believe that the only aspect of religion that really matters is what is known as the “Golden Rule”, i.e., that we all treat everyone else as we would want them to treat us.  That’s it.  We don’t need labels that divide us into competing tribes.  Who cares about thousand year old profits or what took place from a religious standpoint in the year 325?  The important thing is for each of us to now treat all others with respect and compassion.  Think how much better the world would be if that attitude prevailed.

No, I refuse to label myself.  I can’t help what labels others stick on me but my name is the only label that I’m interested in.  I’m an individual member of the human species who strives to seek solutions to problems rationally and to treat all others as I would like them to treat me.