Post by @Kir@mastodon.uno

2026-10-10 10:58 UTC

@isisevrinen@mastodon.chasalin.nl @KatyElphinstone@mas.to I understand and completely respect your experience. But I think label are liberating when gives a form and legitimation to a conceptual space that was negated, and this negation came itself from the practice of using labels. And the danger is that when people feel liberated thank to a label, they may ends up being attached to it and defensive, so people who still falls out of this new labels are negated again. Plants of examples of this.

Replies (2)

@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 2026-10-10 11:04

@Kir@mastodon.uno @isisevrinen@mastodon.chasalin.nl It's a difficult question. It's also so true that differentiation can be both celebrated and misused. Misused is what we see in power structures and orders of 'value' (where one is made lesser and the other, more). But it can also be simply extremely helpful information! If I go into a library and the books are all in a large heap, I may never find the book I'm looking for on... hm.... zebra's most preferred vegetation (for example). Whereas if someone, with the help of Dewey, has arranged them into rooms, shelves, and places on those shelves I may find the book in five minutes. Or if I have been given the name 'diabetes' (as a label, by a doctor) and can therefore find out that I need a medicine called 'insulin'. That could also be super helpful. I think the big question perhaps isn't "are labels good or bad?" but "is this particular use of this label good, bad.. or neutral?"

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@KatyElphinstone@mas.to 2026-10-10 11:13

@Kir@mastodon.uno @isisevrinen@mastodon.chasalin.nl Just to mention that I see exactly what you mean here. Can you elaborate about the plants? I'm intrigued!

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