Do you have trouble living down a stigma?

@Anonymartyr People seem to not want to live with labels but yet they feel a need to put labels on everything and everyone else. Almost a pot and kettle thing.

@Dainbramadge I was just telling someone else that I try hard to never put any labels on myself for that very reason. Besides, nobody is purely an introvert or extrovert etc. and sexual preferences belong in an intimate environment not publicly (this applying to heterosexuals too) and religion should be kept to their meeting places and at home.

@Anonymartyr I agree. People tend to want to share to much intimate details of their lives and not enough casual information. LOL.

@Dainbramadge Low self-esteem causes people to try to "rise above" by displaying how they are different (and superior) but in the process marginalize themselves into a minority group. The remainder complain that these minorities are "rocking the boat" and oppose the minorities.
The whole thing is hypocrisy considering that any minority also tries to emulate "pop culture" at the same time as they are pushing their differences on everyone else. My solution is simple: ignore popular opinion and just be yourself. There is no such thing as majority since everyone is an individual.

@Anonymartyr The double edged sword. Try to fit in all the while trying to stand out. I think it is all part of the ingraining society programs us with our whole lives. " Don't follow the crowd " " Try to fit in " type thing. There are a lot of examples that escape me right now but I think you know what I mean. Ultimately, I think people really don't know who they are or who they want to be so they have to label everyone else to feel that control.

@Dainbramadge Back in the 1970's there were slogans on TV against using drugs: "Be yourself" is what the would say. The same sponsors sell products worldwide stating "you will not succeed without buying our product". So everyone buys that product, not that it works.

Or how about the " Be all you can be" statement all the while looking for people to be mindless grunts. LOL

@Dainbramadge And then got treated terribly when they returned from the Vietnam conflict...

@Anonymartyr It would cause some to put aside any wants to be a social fit and be rogue to the point of anti-social. I think over all people are in need of guidance and look for it in any face they see. Then when that face doesn't have all the securities they seek, they look elsewhere remaining lost in a search for something that doesn't exist. So I guess the whole thing about loving others after we love ourselves may be correct.

@Dainbramadge You describe me well! But people look for quick and easy solutions and find none. I expect to be brushed off if I were to just speak about it. I don't talk it, I live it and let people decide if they prefer to follow the example or not.

@Anonymartyr When you follow your own path, it can be ruff. You can't learn from others lives because they are in the fight to be followed and to follow at the same time. Then there are the people that insist you follow them. And when you decline, they get upset and label you a non-conformist. This is mostly like the stigma I have lived with my whole life. I have had my moments of temper and maybe went overboard on people that needed to be made to stay away from someone or something. But , none the less, point was driven home on the first try for the most part. Maybe everyone wears a lable and just some are harder to see.

@Dainbramadge you can still learn plenty from the mistakes of others, without being personally involved with them. It is the "conformists" who go against the grain of the world. There should be no higher authority over mankind than the clan head since it has been witnessed in every case that when people have authority over other people, corruption results.

@Anonymartyr Had a great and enlightening chat with you. I do appreciate good intelligent interaction. Don't get me wrong tho. I do like the silliness of this site to. But it is refreshing to have a mentally stimulating conversation from time to time. LOL. Got to run for a bit.

@Dainbramadge Good timing and hope to chat again soon. Like you I enjoy a deep conversation as you cannot get much exercise swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool.