Labeling Society

In life, people will often find it difficult to pin down what exactly defines them. Human minds branch off into so many areas that their owners are often left at a loss as to what truly define them. In their need for a more complete definition, people turn to society, the general consciousness, and hope that it will sort them into the groups and assign them labels that are suitable for them. Usually, this process works rather well, for society possesses centuries of practice upon which it can rely on in its sorting. Occasionally, however, society will make a mistake, labeling individuals or even whole groups of people as something they are not. It is sometimes difficult to discern why society commits this misattribution, perhaps it is due to
Whether one believes nature or nurture has more of an impact upon the development of a person matters little, for neither one possesses a requirement that society’s opinion be held in any particularly high esteem. For evidence of this claim, one need look no further that the lives and standards of People of Color in the U.S. during the many years in which racial prejudice was rampant in society. Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King Jr. were all treated as inferior beings by society for at least most of their lives(Douglass was even a slave for several years). Despite this, none of them ever professed to share the same view, and were, in fact, quite vocal in their opposition to it. The reasons for this noncompliance were varied, but all included a general disregard for society’s opinion and the decision to place their faith in other places(books, the opinions of their family, etc.). In essence, they found a way to define themselves absent of society, they went down that second path, and with them blazing the trail, others could easily follow in their