Labels

[Excited Penguin]

What's wrong with that argument, of course, is that it presupposes everyone is so retarded as to define people based on one little detail about them.

It presupposes nothing of the sort.  But people prone to use labels as identification for other people do precisely that.  When you say 'Boru the atheist' or 'Jimmy the farmer', you ARE defining them based on a particular detail.

But hey, ok. If you care that much about what someone who thinks so narrowly thinks about you then I can certainly understand you.

You miss my point - I manifestly do NOT 'care that much' about the people who use labels.  I simply object to labeler's inclination to attempt to define a whole person by a single characteristic.

There's nothing you can do about emotions. Evie told me this just recently.

I think the world of Evie, but you're both wrong about this.  You can do a lot about emotions, such as managing your reaction to them.  By my attitude about people who label others isn't an emotion, it's a value judgement.

Sorry for the strong language, for some reason I feel like cursing right now. It's got nothing to do with what we're talking about or with you guys, I can assure you.

Nothing to be sorry for, EP.

Boru

I am simply talking about identifying as an atheist in the relevant circumstances, not all of the time and without any context - as well as being identified as such. Surely, that is not a bad thing? Yet, some people are strangely reluctant to do this, and this is what actually puzzles me. 

So, to recap, I am not talking about the practice of labeling someone with a certain term that you have preconceived notions about and then viewing that person through that lens alone.