MARGARET BENSHOOF-HOLLER

The limitations of labels

SHE'S A "senior citizen." He's an "immigrant." She's "homeless." He's "homosexual." She has a "learning disorder."

In our class-structured society, it's easy to categorize and make judgments of other people solely on the basis of labels.

Language requires us to classify things. Science and medicine put labels on everything. But humans are social animals with complex personalities. And labels take into account only one small part, overlooking the whole person.

Fill out any job application and you are classified by a label. Whether you are "male" or "female," a "manager" or a "secretary," "educated" or "non-educated," once you state it on an application, you are computerized and locked in limbo by a label.

Bureaucracies are famous for fitting people into slots and limiting them by job descriptions. "Seniority" is the term of value for civil servants vying for position. What place is there for "merit" or the "creative individual" within such a system?

It's not so easy to be free from labels. Not so easy either to avoid casting others in concrete and forgetting they are human.

And we learn early in life to use labels.

It begins at the playground. "Dick is a liar!" "Jane is a retard!"

Children are good at giving names to other people.

They say, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you."

That's true only if you don't take them seriously. But the ego is fragile. And what child has learned to ignore a label acquired on the playground?

Unless some supportive adult teaches them otherwise, children carry labels into adulthood.

Thus, when we grow up, we often act just as we did on the playground.

None of us is immune. We are all bashed and bruised at times because someone said we were "stupid," "crazy," "incompetent," "lazy," "sensitive," "weird," "a redneck," "a ding-dong," or any number of terms that separate us from the in crowd.

If you are a white anglo, Latinos might see you as "rigid." African Americans might see you as "racist." And white anglos have all sorts of names for those of other races and ethnic backgrounds.

If you are a male, then females might say you are "patriarchal and sexist."

If you are a female, then maybe you are labeled "incapable," or just a "disgruntled, nonorgasmic feminist."

Labels have greater impact when they divide the races and sexes.

How do we deal with labels?

The only thing we can do is remember the human heart beats much the same no matter what the label.