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Labels Are For Underwear


Have you noticed everything is excessively labeled these days? Our movies and TV shows, our video games, our music, our food. The television stations have even labeled themselves continuously on the screen, as if we are too stupid to realize which channel we are watching. I think it's called the Idiot Factor (but I'm not sure). We Americans have been trained to look at something but not to see it. We are blitzed by so much, so fast, it has become hard to distinguish anything as individual anymore. Everything is categorized. Even you and me! Labels are used for many reasons when it comes to people. To define, to restrict, even to condemn. But we humans are indefinable, therefore labels as such are erroneous, specifically regarding our sexuality. The closest label I want to that is the one on my underwear.

One theme throughout human history has been the reaction to fear of the unknown. Fear leads to anger, which usually, unfortunately, leads to hate (and we all know what comes after that). It's a case of trying to fix the symptom instead of the cause (which is always linked to ignorance in one form or another), it's a self-destructive loop. Of course, hating something indefinable is no fun, let's face it! Pointing a finger without an accompanying name to call is not very exciting. Picking on someone labeled, on the other hand, not only hurts their feelings, it boxes them in, it points them out. They are different. Different is bad because it is unknown. Am I making my point? Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can do a lot of damage too! If we are to label people by their sexuality, and really, how much do we actually know about each other's sex life! If we are to label people by their sexuality, why not also label them for the type of driver they are, or how they treat others.

Imagine it, a person wants to buy a car in their favorite color, red, but they can't because there's a new system: only people who drive like assholes are allowed to buy red cars, you've been assigned a blue one (even though you've snuck in your share of bad driving). Red cars, everyone now knows, are a warning: "Asshole Driver On Board-Fear For Your Life!" But, what dictates bad driving? Who will decide who gets a red car? It gets messy in a hurry. Suppose you need to borrow your friend's car for a week. It's green. Everyone knows what green cars now signify: "Single Driver On Board-Sex Wanted", only, you are happily married, with a

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