Labels in the Social Imagination ~ Part II

Not long ago I wrote about how labels in the social imagination are used to control people. The complete irony is that those who love labels (Progressives) have an agenda "Say No to Labels". Why? Because they don't want labels put on them which would obviously tell you more about them than they want you to know. The first American to come to mind is LBJ.

"I don't believe in labels. I want to do the best I can, all the time. I want to be progressive without getting both fee off the ground at the same time. I want to be prudent without having my mind closed to anything that is new or different. I have often said that I was proud that I was a free man first (no kidding... a white male from Texas) and an American second, and a public servant third and a Democrat fourth... finally calling himself a prudent progressive ~ " Lyndon B. John, Television and Radio Address March 15, 1964.

What praises he got and continues to get for that by his fellow progressives. Yet, no one seems to have paid attention to the order of his labeling. 1st, a free man, 2nd an American, 3rd a public servant and lastly a Democrat. His priority is being a free man, thirdly a public servant... that should tell you something about progressives; especially the prudent ones - judicious in practical affairs. Sounds reasonable to have good judgement in practical affairs but given the number one label here is being a 'Free man'. Knowing that this is a fallen world, all men are not as altruistic as we would like to think. It means that 'I come first', and first was used in the phraseology. 

A group of 'freethinkers' from New York decided to create an organization back in 2010 called what else... 'No Labels'. There motto - "put labels aside and do what is best for America".  Certainly, if they were really about being Americans (as a label for all) first and foremost, then I could agree.  However, that is not their agenda. Their agenda is to label according to their agenda because they know very well that labeling is a means to discern and from that we understand what to expect. They want us to expect certain things from them only and expect nothing else from no one else. To live in a gray zone with pop outs that they control.

Think about like this... if a man pretends to be a dentist because we don't want to use labels to describe him, then would you risk an office visit in a world with 'no labels'? Or, what if you were to go into your pantry or medicine cabinet and rip off all the labels... could you or your children accidentally mix up something edible/helpful with something not?

That does sound a bit exaggerated but grounded in a very real sense which is that we need labels. But, you might say ...hey, we are talking about unfair labels that some people put on other people. OK, so we can't call a thief a thief or a murderer a murderer, a pedophile a pedophile, or a liar a liar, a scam artist a scam artist, or a vagrant a vagrant etc. Maybe that is unfair. Oh, you meat that we can't label someone a racist, right? No, you say because a racist is a racist and should be labeled as such. You see, that's the progressive agenda. The right labels apply...

They don't want certain labels because they know that labels work for them and they want to control them. They want to clear away our fundamental objections to make way for what they really want. When such people say, "we need to get beyond labels, we need to put away labels." What that really means is that they want you to put away your labels so that they can continue to use theirs for their program unimpeded. 

Keep in mind, this organization of people (couldn't we label them 'prudent progressives' that want us to put away our labels, follow the benchmark set back in 1964, "First, I am a free man", second an American, third a public servant and fourth a democrat. When someone puts their freedom first (not someone else's) then we should wonder about their patriotism, their public service and devotion to being a democrat.

Am I for labels? Yes, I guess I should be if I were a progressive because the right labels do serve the greater good as they by nature we socially set ourselves apart with labels; hence, its built into our evolution, isn't it? However, knowing what and who we are and are not is not necessary in natural selection. Is it human then to not label as we cannot know who we truly are and will become? So... don't label me an intellectual or rich or poor or stupid or selfish, or a thief or anything because it does not really matter now, in this present state. Nature, as Progressives and Darwinists favor, would not need or use labels because its really about the evolution of the state!

But, if we consider that in Jesus Christ all are equal, the only label is His! "The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God".…~ Romans 8:20. Only He can set us free and in Him we are free indeed... free from man's labels and man's state of labels!




* Source ~ Jonah Goldberg's "The Tyranny of Cliches" a New York Times Best Seller!