"There is a word printed across my forehead in bold black ink
and every one is reading it as I walk past them
and I don't know what it says because I don't speak the language.
But I see the meaning in their eyes
and the way they despise to even look at my skin.
Their lips curl in disgust
and I am left to rust in a waste bin
with no knowing why I got marked non-recyclable."
Labels.
Our society is riddled with them and the strange part is that they once served a purpose whereas now they hinder us.
Once, the schemas in our brains allowed us to determine what kind of person someone was- usually through their appearance and behavior. James Clear wrote in his article "The Power of Schemas: The Crime Your Brain Commits Against You" that "a schema is a set of preconceived ideas that your brain uses to perceive and interpret new information."
Our bias has begun to drastically affect our schemas in relation to people, making them inaccurate generalizations rather than knowledgeable deductions.
Marie Southpard Ospina wrote an article concerning a social experiment that she conducted titled "I Dressed as a Goth, a Party Girl, and a Manic Pixie Dream Girl — Here's How My Friends, Partner, and OKCupid Reacted"on Bustle.
As a part of her experiment, she created and OkCupid profile where every week she would adopt a new look in her profile pictures. She utilized the same location each week- only opting to make changes to her makeup, hairstyle, and outfit.
In her article, she details responses that she received on each look and it is shocking to realize how quickly people would label her based on how much makeup she wore or the color of her clothing rather than actually reading the bio on her profile.
Too many people make snap decisions about someone based off of first appearances. Without even saying hello to that person, someone will craft a box of assumptions and assign it to that human being without questioning it.
The question is "Are these labels helping us or hindering our ability to connect as human beings?"
An example of the impact labels can have is found in almost any piece of media. Cosmopolitan likes to tell you what kind of girl you are based on your bra size and Brother would love to tell you what your beard says about your personality. That's the equivalent of saying everyone born under the Taurus zodiac is stubborn.
If you let something like the color of someone's hair or the length of their skirt allow you to place judgment upon them rather than their own actions towards you, you are blocking yourself off from a potential connection.
The color of someone's skin begins to outweigh the person him/herself. Ink-covered skin is seen as a threat rather than a work of art or an expression of self. Short clothing becomes a warrant for unsolicited harassment.
The above are things that happen when you permit your own bias to affect how you view others.
As human beings, being able to connect with one another is one of the more beautiful aspects of life. We can grow and develop as communities of individuals and that is our strength. Our diversity is what best allows us to make outstanding feats of science and to learn what it is to be a human being.
There are other harmful effects of labeling. By labeling someone, society encourages them to become that very thing. Giving certain people the label of 'Criminal' often leads to those people accepting that role of deviance in society. We often accept the roles assigned to us because it is difficult to get others to see past stigmas in order to move forward.
Sometimes schemas are helpful and they allow us to identify things based off of previous knowledge but, when we allow them to be tainted by our own bias, they can become a hindrance. They not only affect our judgement — they change who we are as people.
"I was given a label before I even said hello."
