Mason Sklar

I’m trying to keep is professional on here from now on so I can’t answer your question directly. The second one, though. Starts with D.

I try very hard not to rant and be angry on the internet but I guess today’s a good day for it.

OK, here’s the thing about labels. They work 2 ways. They identify what something is, but in including something in a group alienates it to another group. If you say, “I am Mason, I am X,” it can make people who are not X uncomfortable. It’s human nature to in general stick around people like you and avoid different things.
This presents a dilemma for people who are or feel marginalized. They feel different for one reason or another, and applying a label to themselves or having one applied to them by others only separates them further. When a group, say X, campaigns for some equality or something says, “accept us because we are X,” it really only serves to highlight the differences between X and everyone else rather than making people feel more comfortable with X. Instead, I think X should say, “We’re essentially no different from you,” and probably not in some sort of march or parade. Those make people angry.
Let’s talk civil rights. I won’t lie to you, my history knowledge is shaky, but I’m pretty sure I have the gist of it. Back in the day of the turn of the 20th century, there were two men, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois (pronounced Doo-Boys, not Du-Bwah). They were both crusaders of Black equality in America. Du Bois believed that recently emancipated slaves should protest and cause a ruckus until they were given equal rights. Washington, on the other hand, believed in a much more mellow approach, urging Blacks to get a liberal arts-based education and get the most important job they could, earning respect. This parallels Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Dr. King was much more successful at making it into the history books and White people like him a lot better because he worked hard at earning respect.
The point is, I’m against labels in general. It doesn’t seem right to me that a word or phrase can represent such a myriad of ideas. For example, my worldview lines up pretty nicely with what some people call Secular humanism, but I don’t identify myself as a Secular Humanist. I don’t even think Secular Humanism should be a phrase and there certainly shouldn’t be a council for it.
Mostly though, I don’t want myself to be known as a label. I’m not Mason Sklar the Secular Humanist. I’m Mason Sklar.
So why would you label yourself on purpose? I don’t want to be friends with Doug Smith gay guy, Betty Douglas feminist, Smith Bettyson Christian or Chip Dipson asexual. I want to be friends with Doug, Betty, Smith and Chip.