Tag Me Not or the Culture of Labelling (updated)
"Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” Genesis 11: 7 Ironically, even when they speak one language, they still need to use it to divide themselves. Labelling is indeed a very interesting phenomenon in Western culture. I came here as a person, a soul, and then one day I realised that had I been born and lived here all my life, I would have gained a good amount of labels - vulnerable child, trauma survivor, BAME, precarious worker, most recently I realised I am also a third space professional. All these of course are ways in which others in this society might want to view me - this is not the way I identify myself. It just shows their level of thinking, prejudice, fears and narrow-mindedness. That is not to say they do not try to make amends. Sometimes the labelled get advocates to fight for their rights through organised campaigns or annual events even. Other times the labelled ones themselves come up with new labels to wash the s...