To Label Is to Negate
August 10, 2021
"Once you label me you negate me." - Soren Kiergegaard
That one simple observation, that we know intuitively, provides the best argument against hard and fast labels that I know.
It may also be the reason why people are so prone to use them ... on others.
When our arguments against issues or for our own positions are weak, we feel we can score an easy "win" by putting our adversaries into boxes of someone else's making.
Once we have categorized the person, we can dismiss him or her and that person's words as party lines from some villainous sect or persuasion.
It works except for one annoying reality. It is wrong.
And it counts us out of one of those groups that Jesus commended – truth seekers.
If we cannot seek truth in every situation, we cannot seek it anywhere.
Negate nothing but negativity and negate no one … ever.