Is there a political label you wish you could fix?

[AchtungNight]

In my case, yes. The specific label is “gold star lesbian”. In my honest opinion, this is disrespectful to families of people who have given their lives for American patriotism, aka Gold Star families. It is also an arrogant label in general because it implies that women who would call themselves lesbian should reject men as friends, sexual partners in the case of women who are attracted to multiple genders, and as prospects for other necessary or welcome alliances. It promotes a standard that is difficult to achieve and should not be supported if lesbians and non-lesbians want to live together comfortably in our shared world.

I get the reasoning behind this label. People are angry, they have been hurt, they want to gather adherents who share their emotions. But in my honest opinion as someone who has suffered from intolerance (full disclosure- I’m a socially awkward introvert straight man who has been victimized for my lack of masculinity), such divisive attitudes are not a good thing. I think intolerance such as this should be opposed.

My solution? Women who would love other women should call themselves what they are, “committed lesbians”. Drop their high standards that have potential to shame themselves and others. If committed lesbians are willing to accept men as friends or in other forms of alliance, they should be open to it, reconciling issues with specific people as necessary and not developing prejudice against people who share gender with their oppressors but not attitude. I hope any who reads this will agree this is a good idea.

I need to move on now. My planet needs me. Poochie out. [Simpsons reference]

 

[RoryN]

"Libertarian".

The U.S. Libertarian of the 80s/90s is dead and buried. It's now a term that acts as a smokescreen for far-right interests who have very few actual Libertarian values - if any.

They tend to be amongst the scummiest and most chickenshit of the right-fringers, too.

 

[AchtungNight]

I am woke, not the label you just gave me. Warning to further trolls- I am no longer watching this thread now and if you attempt to provoke me further, you will be wasting your energy. Please do yourselves a favor and move on with your lives. Messenger moving on while he can.

Oh, and now that I reread your post and realized you weren’t talking to me specifically- my sister and other people I know still call themselves Libertarian. There is an entire political party attached to their philosophy that is not far right and supported by left leaning moderates like me. So maybe your label isn’t dead yet or how you understand it. Expand your mind please. The more you know…

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

"Libertarian".

The U.S. Libertarian of the 80s/90s is dead and buried. It's now a term that acts as a smokescreen for far-right interests who have very few actual Libertarian values - if any.

They tend to be amongst the scummiest and most chickenshit of the right-fringers, too.

I feel the same way about "centrist". All the centrists I've met hold conservative views. They just pretend to be above the fray so they can use the sins of the right to indict the left.

 

[RoryN]

Oh, and now that I reread your post and realized you weren’t talking to me specifically- my sister and other people I know still call themselves Libertarian. There is an entire political party attached to their philosophy that is not far right and supported by left leaning moderates like me.

^^^
The truth I posted about modern "Libertarians" always triggers.

 

[YDB95]

Not the term itself, but the application thereof: what we call "conservative" in the USA is really off-the-charts extreme right. Mainstream conservatism, although I don't agree with it, is an ideology I respect. It is also quite different from what almost always comes under that label these days.

 

[SubzeroGirl]

Labels are really important in politics. Fixing those should be a priority. Let’s create a committee to study labels and then create buttons for it. Labels on buttons are helpful too.