Why Racial Labels Don’t Matter, But Do

Recently I had a debate with a friend of mine over a video by Big Think interviewing Neil deGrasse Tyson on the subject of atheism. As a contentious topic, I usually limit such conversations to close friends and open-minded family, away from alcohol and in small groups of very few. I treat the subject of religion with the same care as politics, The Walking Dead, and other touchy issues, but our debate wasn’t about religion at all. We disagreed over Neil deGrasse Tyson, the reigning cultural king of science nerds, rejecting the classification of being atheist. She and I had fundamentally different views on the utility of labels in society.

“The only ‘-ist’ I am is a scientist. I don’t associate with movements… I think for myself. The moment someone attaches you to a philosophy or a movement, then they assign all the baggage and all the rest of the philosophy that goes with it, to you… I’d rather we explore each other’s ideas in real time, rather than assign a label to it.” On one hand, humans naturally categorize. Our brains catalogue information and make associations, and grouping and stereotypes are largely how we make regular decisions in a social world – and rightfully so. Since categorizing is necessary in navigating a complex world, my friend argued the more worthwhile pursuit is creating better defined categories. If categories exist and are inescapable, isn’t it more prudent to have conscious acknowledgement of which categories you adhere, and which you don’t? What go…