One of the biggest aggravations to me on this forum is the self-stereotyping that I constantly see. The arguing over how so-and-so is truly a Christian or a conservative or anarcho-communist or whatever. This stampede to pigeon hole yourself.
I see this as debasing discussion because rather than arguing the point or question at hand, people jump to knee jerk assumptions based on how have (usually voluntarily) self-labeled ourselves.
I'd wager that all discussion would be significantly elevated if we stopped this practice. If you didn't say "as a socialist blah blah blah" then people would be more likely to look at the quality of your comment. I very consciously avoid such labeling when I post (unless is specifically relevant to the point being made. IE if you were discussing baseball rules and you had experience umpiring, it useful to point this out) because I want to engage on the level of the idea and not the stereotype of the person. But that's not the point of this thread.
Ok, enough w/ the back story.
While I've always known this, it finally sunk in (maybe I was weary of being annoyed) that the main reason for this is that this forum is populated by a fairly young population and young people, as a rule, are in a mode of self-reflection, forming identity, etc... Now, I always found the irony that as we strive for individuality that we attack it in others to be interesting, but its not particularly helpful.
And, in so reflecting, I realized that if I was an 18 year old posting here, I would very likely be doing a lot of this same type of self-pigeon holing. At that age, there was no internet, no forums, but I spent an inordinate amount of time in a kind of self pyschoanalysis were I thought through how I thought I should act based on my beliefs or those things I wanted to believe.
Finally, I realized that I had to get out of this phase. That what I was doing was just spinning my wheels, thinking about myself. It was becoming a narcissistic exercise in paralysis by analysis.
So, I decided to stop thinking about myself and start thinking for myself. Rather than wondering how I should act in situation XYZ, I just acted. I held to a few tenets (means) and didn't care about the ends. Rather than thinking "I want to be honest, how does an honest person act?" I just decided to BE honest and trust where that would lead me.
Its a long process and one that at times does require reflection and a short trip back to the "thinking about myself" phase, but I became much happier and, overall, more confident and comfortable with myself and the direction of my life.
So, I offer this post as a mea culpa to the youngsters here. I'll try and be less judgmental and more understanding. But, I want anyone who finds value in this post to realize that you can rise above where you are at and it doesn't require a constant mental flagellation that you're not a true this or that. Be your own person. Define your own terms. Be an individual. Think for yourself, not about yourself.
**Please only reply if you care to contribute to a useful discussion. Thanks**
I see this as debasing discussion because rather than arguing the point or question at hand, people jump to knee jerk assumptions based on how have (usually voluntarily) self-labeled ourselves.
I'd wager that all discussion would be significantly elevated if we stopped this practice. If you didn't say "as a socialist blah blah blah" then people would be more likely to look at the quality of your comment. I very consciously avoid such labeling when I post (unless is specifically relevant to the point being made. IE if you were discussing baseball rules and you had experience umpiring, it useful to point this out) because I want to engage on the level of the idea and not the stereotype of the person. But that's not the point of this thread.
Ok, enough w/ the back story.
While I've always known this, it finally sunk in (maybe I was weary of being annoyed) that the main reason for this is that this forum is populated by a fairly young population and young people, as a rule, are in a mode of self-reflection, forming identity, etc... Now, I always found the irony that as we strive for individuality that we attack it in others to be interesting, but its not particularly helpful.
And, in so reflecting, I realized that if I was an 18 year old posting here, I would very likely be doing a lot of this same type of self-pigeon holing. At that age, there was no internet, no forums, but I spent an inordinate amount of time in a kind of self pyschoanalysis were I thought through how I thought I should act based on my beliefs or those things I wanted to believe.
Finally, I realized that I had to get out of this phase. That what I was doing was just spinning my wheels, thinking about myself. It was becoming a narcissistic exercise in paralysis by analysis.
So, I decided to stop thinking about myself and start thinking for myself. Rather than wondering how I should act in situation XYZ, I just acted. I held to a few tenets (means) and didn't care about the ends. Rather than thinking "I want to be honest, how does an honest person act?" I just decided to BE honest and trust where that would lead me.
Its a long process and one that at times does require reflection and a short trip back to the "thinking about myself" phase, but I became much happier and, overall, more confident and comfortable with myself and the direction of my life.
So, I offer this post as a mea culpa to the youngsters here. I'll try and be less judgmental and more understanding. But, I want anyone who finds value in this post to realize that you can rise above where you are at and it doesn't require a constant mental flagellation that you're not a true this or that. Be your own person. Define your own terms. Be an individual. Think for yourself, not about yourself.
**Please only reply if you care to contribute to a useful discussion. Thanks**
The hell are you talking about? Objectivists are possibly the most guilty of this out of all of them!
