Have you ever been labeled? I got off to a bad start at school, quickly falling behind in First Grade and falling further behind as the years went by. It was a funny thing. I could make total sense out of Rod Carew’s Batting Average and Bob Gibson’s Earned Run Average but couldn’t answer the math questions that my teachers gave me. I could spell the name of any player on the Giants; Marichal, McCovey, and probably most of the players on other teams. Names like Billy Grabarkewitz. I just couldn’t spell words correctly on a spelling test. Because of that, I was labled as a nice kid who wasn’t bright. You know what? I started behaving like someone who wasn’t bright and in one way or another, I’ve worn that label for my entire life.
That’s why I hate labels. When I was in middle school and saw the anti-war protests on TV and on the Berkeley Campus, they were labeled Anti-American and Commies. While at that time of my life, I wasn’t sure whether the war was justified, I understood that there were many patriotic reasons to protest the war. I knew in my heart that not everyone who fails a 5th grade math test is dumb and not everyone who is against the war is unpatriotic.
As an adult who leans on the conservative, I’ve become extremely unconfortable when fellow conservatives label liberals and progressives as anti-religion. Being old enough to have lived through 12 presidents, some conservative, some liberal, I’ve never had a problem practicing my religion. I’ve seen disagreements regarding where religion fits into public schools and public spaces, and while some have gotten heated, it’s always been safe to be a Christian in the United States. Not everyone who fails a High School English test is stupid and not everyone who is not sure prayer should be in public schools is anti-religion.
Labels are the easy way out. Conservatives use them as weapons. Liberals use them as weapons. Labels dismiss the opposing viewpoint without providing substance to refute the viewpoint. Labels end conversations rather than moving them forward. I promise you that not everyone who supports a border wall is a racist who hates immigrants. I also promise you that not everyone who doesn’t support the wall wants the choas that open borders would bring. There are nuances to our beliefs that can only be found through conversation.
Let’s take take a break from the labelpalosa and start having conversations. You might find that if you listen with a little bit of respect and empathy, you’ll not only remove the label from your new friend, they might remove the label that they had for you.
Let’s find that needle of common ground in the haystack of polarization.
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