Facebook, On This Day 24th May 2015:
I just found myself on Stedman Graham's Wikipedia page and I need to share this...
"Stedman Graham gives inspirational speeches at schools. His driving question is "Who are you?", questioning peoples self-identity. Ironically when asked "Who are you?" at a recent speech in early 2015, he didn't have anything to say."
I don't think there's ANYTHING ironic in that actually. How do you answer the question "who are you?" without using LABELS??? I see people use labels in their Twitter bios...I do it myself - goth, student, mum - but is that who I am? What I am maybe... Who are you...are you a colour, a religion, a nationality, a gender, a sexuality, a set of pronouns? Are you a JOB??? Perhaps the best possible answer is enigmatic silence.
In a similar vein...
Facebook, On This Day 24th May 2017:
[Shared post]
Imprisoned by their barbaric, primitive beliefs,
they hate their lives & envy our freedom & joy.
Fuck them. Carry on. Have fun.
They lose.
- Facebook post by Ricky Gervais, 24th May 2017;
regarding the Manchester Arena Attack
[My response]
This makes me all kinds of uncomfortable.
Are you talking about terrorism or Islam here? Is that deliberate ambiguity to 'disguise' Islamophobia? From the comments I see it's how a fair proportion of people are interpreting it. At a time like this be careful how you phrase stuff or you become part of the problem.
Again with the 'them' and 'us' mentality. Who are 'they'? Who are 'we'?
This guy was British. He was one of us. His freedoms and our freedoms were the same. We need to acknowledge this.
We're all PEOPLE. Divide and conquer is not the solution. Should we not aim for unity and dialogue instead of emphasising difference?
The same topic in two very different posts two years apart.
Labels.
We use them all the time and they're not an inherently bad thing. We use them to understand ourselves and each other. BUT all the labels we use DIVIDE us. They emphasise how we differ from one another. Now, variety is the spice of life and we should not be afraid or ashamed to be different...but 'us and them' is always bad. People who are not as we are should not be feared or hated.
We use them all the time and they're not an inherently bad thing. We use them to understand ourselves and each other. BUT all the labels we use DIVIDE us. They emphasise how we differ from one another. Now, variety is the spice of life and we should not be afraid or ashamed to be different...but 'us and them' is always bad. People who are not as we are should not be feared or hated.
I’m Tibetan, I’m Buddhist and I’m the Dalai Lama,
but if I emphasize these differences it sets me apart
and raises barriers with other people.
What we need to do is to pay more attention to the ways in which we are
the same as other people.
- Tweet by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, 21 May 2018
So, who are YOU Heggie Speller?
- White / British...with about one 16th Irish if anyone cares about such things
- Church of England heritage but Pagan tendencies
- Ordained minister (I looked up online ordination and did the thing. Ooopsie!)
- University graduate
- Single mother (one at uni, one graduate...PROUD MOMMA!)
- Cat momma (not at uni but still proud)
- Dead-end job, soon to be a carer (which could also be defined as a dead-end job...)
- Fat
- Vegan
- Tattooed
- Agender
- Straight but terminally single
- Artist with a thing about coelacanths
- Loves alt rock and Agatha Christie books
Should any of that matter to anyone? I really don't think so. Most of it doesn't matter a helluva lot to me!
Use labels wisely...and sparingly. Use them to place yourself (and others) in the world not apart from it.
