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| defending the platypus: an essay |
It
is important to have definitions and categories. Human
progress and education is dependent on man's ability to define and label
things. It's how the human mind works. But unfortunately humans also have
a tendency to get so wrapped up in the words and labels they use that they
forget what that label was initially meant to represent.  Case
in point: think of the world 'child'. What do you think of? Someone young?
Is that it? "Someone who is young, under 10 years of age"? But
what if you get into an altercation with a friend and out of frustration
you call her a child? What did that word 'child' mean then? It implies immaturity,
negative connotations. Imagine a 9 year old defending himself against his parent, trying to explain what he's thinking, but the parent waves his hand at his kid and says, "you're just a child, wait until you grow up". Do you see the inherent stereotypes and assumptions you find in such a simple word? The word comes to mean something else entirely, and carries with it all the assumptions and stereotypes. The child comes to resent the word and waits for the day when he becomes old enough to become some bigger, better word.  Consider
Moxie, a guy I know who doesn't have too much self-esteem. He's actually
pretty darned intelligent, but he was told often growing up, "you're
stupid, you're stupid." Moxie grew up repeating to himself, "I'm
stupid, I'm just stupid", and despite the reality, that he's actually
very smart, he has accepted the finality of the word 'stupid' and believes
that all the negative connotations of the word 'stupid' apply to him. Despite
the fact that the reality of his intelligence is markedly different and
much more positive. >
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