Labeling and Mislabeling

This means to apply a rigid label, to oneself or others, based on a fixed identity that is then hard to change and carries with it a whole host of unspoken assumptions. For example:

I’m a loser because I’m _________ [Forever Alone, Adult Virgin, whatever]

But what does ‘loser’ mean? For a premise to be correct, the terms need to be defined. Meaning socially, but what about other social successes, and even there really were none, it’s a fortune telling error to suggest that there never could be. Is there any evidence available, of someone who was in this situation but flowered late in life?

The trick is not linking experiences with identity. The other trick, is defining terms. When applying the label, what does it mean, exactly, and is it fixed? (It isn’t fixed, btw, no identity is fixed or we’d never stop being children, for a start!).

It could be suggested that this distortion is linked to the ad hominem fallacy, of discounting what someone says by ascribing them identity which (illogically) negates their experience.

 

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