[ExI] labels, was: RE: GOV _ TRUMP

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace



 

>…I also agree with John - just say what you believe and leave labels out of it…

 

Ja.  Never have we seen the left-right label fail so spectacularly on the national level than we did in 2016.  I still can’t tell which of those two mainstreamers go where on that spectrum, and if so, why.

 

>…Mental problems are so varied that many in the field think that the old labels, like psychotic and neurotic, are just not nearly sufficient and want to get away from labels entirely, as they confuse more than they elucidate.  …Any label tends to be an overgeneralization.  bill w

 

Overgeneralization sure, but sometimes useful.  Consider the label Asperger’s, which has come into fashion in the past couple decades, and sounds more respectable than geek or nerd perhaps.  It brought new respect to many of us who are queer but not homosexual, not outside of the mainstream anatomically or sexually, but waaaaay out of the mainstream in plenty of other areas (can anyone here relate?)  Being signed up for cryonics is queer in some circles (such as nearly all circles.)  I just like that label so much better than “odd sense of humor.”

 

Consider Extro-schmoozes.  At those, one can say something like “Two neutrinos went through a bar” and nearly everyone there will laugh (oh those gatherings are fun (it is like coming home to a place you’ve never been before (assuming you are from a really weird fun home.)))  Any gathering of normal people they look at you like you are some kind of extropian.  I have half a mind to hang a label on them: normal.

 

But we can deal.  Understatement, we can take advantage of psychological labels.  Take for instance, narcissism.  Plenty of people are that way.  Did they choose it?  NO!  We were born this way.  I never saw a signup sheet come around.  So it is genetic!  But I am even weirder: a really humble narcissist.

 

Imagine the scenario, guy goes to the psychologist or psychiatrist, doc tells him: you are a narcissist.  Guy: I KNEW IT!  THAT’s what is causing me to be this way.  Now I have a LABEL!  It is a mental disease or condition, one with no medication to cure it.  Now they hafta treat me with RESPECT!  I am no longer merely an asshole, but rather a NARCISSIST, and Narcissus was a Greek god!  I am like him, only without the actual…like…beauty and superpowers and such.

 

Moral of the story: labels can be hurtful or fun:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tw94AKqOo

 

spike

 

 

 

 

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