Labeling

by Alamin Muhammad

Labeling is the art of attaching a definition or description to a person or people. The label given determines how the person is perceived, their value, and how they should be responded to. A negative label can cause people to become suspicious of someone, be fearful, prejudiced, to ignore one’s opinions, statements of truth, and even assume that the so labeled individual or people are worthless and expendable.

A negative label can reverse a person’s perception of reality, and they’ll see right as wrong, and wrong as right. For example, a refugee is one who flees to another country for safety. The victims of Katrina were initially called refugees. By labeling them refugees suggested that they were not American, but desperate people fleeing across some border into America. Since it’s been suggested that they’re not Americans, we should be suspicious and fearful of them. Since they’re refugees, they’re not important but, worthless and expendable.

By labeling all disaster victims “looters”, justified the lack of concern, indifference, and incompetence of the Mayor, Governor, and President of the U. S. The attitude of our President was one of annoyance. It’s a well known fact that this Republican administration considers poor people to be lazy and undeserving of help. To give a poor displaced American citizens financial help, to this administration is like throwing good money to bad people.

Thankfully the American people didn’t wait for the government. Instead the American people, rescued, fed, housed, and consoled one another. While the Mayor, Governor, and President held press conferences and blamed each other. Let’s face it, no one had a plan. Resulting in hundreds dead and thousands displaced. If the government had spent 1-2 billion to fix the reoccurring problem, they wouldn’t have to now spend $200 billion, not to mention the pain and suffering of the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, which can’t be measured in dollars. To fix the political problem, fire the Mayor, Governor, and President and, let’s hire some competent people who don’t take their failures and make them their new agenda.

Politics is probably the womb that bore labeling. Either something is true or it’s untrue. But, in the political arena, there’s left-wing truth and right-wing truth. By labeling the truth this way, one can dismiss the truth of his opponents, not based on facts, but based on the label. This is cheap school yard behavior. One of the things that make America great is freedom of speech. Usually when your opponent doesn’t want you to speak is because he has a weaker position then you do so, he has to shut you up or, make people think that you shouldn’t be listened to. So, we must get away from this language that divides us because, a nation divided against itself cannot stand.

Another label to look at is insurgents. What is an insurgent? Why isn’t the word Iraqi used to describe the opposition in Iraq? Because, the label insurgent becomes a synonym for terrorism, and fighting terrorism is what we’re doing. So, language is used to color that perception. Lastly, what is patriotism? It’s defined as national pride, loyalty and, love of country. Is it also to blindly follow leadership, even when they are wrong? Does it mean to follow leadership when it’s proven that they lied? Are we to assume that because a person has one good virtue, that all of his virtues are good? Or, is it patriotism to hold leadership accountable, demand that they do what’s right, to speak out against them if they don’t and, to if necessary remove them with our hands by voting them out of office.

Alamin Muhammad