In real life one tends to interact with others closer to one's own 'norm', I guess; it's only natural, since many are work colleagues and family. But the online world is a whole different story. My online education in psychology took place in the HP fandom rather than yours of social media. An amazing diversity of people, both good and bad. Idiots, dingbats, viciously stupid; intelligent, creative, imaginative, loving. The whole spectrum, opening my eyes to behaviour I'd never thought about previously. It wasn't the reason I entered the fandom but I've marvelled over the years at the psychological cases I've witnessed therein.
Like you I was fascinated by how many folk use 'labels' as *excuses* to cowardly retreat from a discussion:
They give people an immediate pass to stop analyzing, stop thinking, stop empathizing - because the label comes fully outfitted with an elaborately constructed excuse not to care.
Exactly. Perfectly put. I don't know how many times in a HP debate my opponent would label me as a 'Harmionian' or a 'Hater' ... and then stop, as if that settled things. Ridiculous. A label that's just thrown out without any proof of the legitimacy of its connection to the subject means nothing. And since proving the attachment would mean looking at the substance of the subject's argument anyway ... why bother with the label in the first place?
Still, it always amazed me how so many HP fans just didn't get it. I was always left wondering which ones knew that they were covering up a 'defeat' in the debate, the ones who just couldn't bring themselves to say "you're right, I'm wrong" (so many can't!) ... and which people honestly bought into the 'power of the label', without understanding any further.
I think the efficacy of labelling goes hand in hand with cliquishness; if there are a mass of people in one's own group who are entrenched in the label mindset - 'Brad is a Harmonian', say - then the application of same starts to become axiomatic for them. They can't go back to first principles and comprehend the lack of tether between label and person.
Labels are shortcuts, like mathematical theorems; only the latter can be objectively proven. The former are just excuses for lazy or cowardly behaviour which may not stand up under scrutiny ... and should always be suspect.
Sometimes I think I should wear a T-shirt with the slogan "everything I know about psychology I learnt from the Harry Potter fandom". :-)
Like you I was fascinated by how many folk use 'labels' as *excuses* to cowardly retreat from a discussion:
They give people an immediate pass to stop analyzing, stop thinking, stop empathizing - because the label comes fully outfitted with an elaborately constructed excuse not to care.
Exactly. Perfectly put. I don't know how many times in a HP debate my opponent would label me as a 'Harmionian' or a 'Hater' ... and then stop, as if that settled things. Ridiculous. A label that's just thrown out without any proof of the legitimacy of its connection to the subject means nothing. And since proving the attachment would mean looking at the substance of the subject's argument anyway ... why bother with the label in the first place?
Still, it always amazed me how so many HP fans just didn't get it. I was always left wondering which ones knew that they were covering up a 'defeat' in the debate, the ones who just couldn't bring themselves to say "you're right, I'm wrong" (so many can't!) ... and which people honestly bought into the 'power of the label', without understanding any further.
I think the efficacy of labelling goes hand in hand with cliquishness; if there are a mass of people in one's own group who are entrenched in the label mindset - 'Brad is a Harmonian', say - then the application of same starts to become axiomatic for them. They can't go back to first principles and comprehend the lack of tether between label and person.
Labels are shortcuts, like mathematical theorems; only the latter can be objectively proven. The former are just excuses for lazy or cowardly behaviour which may not stand up under scrutiny ... and should always be suspect.
Sometimes I think I should wear a T-shirt with the slogan "everything I know about psychology I learnt from the Harry Potter fandom". :-)
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