Ill Fitting Labels

BW muses about labels. The best insight in my opinion: “...in the end we are 6 billion people who view life 6 billion different ways.”

Every label I might apply to myself is inadequate or misleading. If I call myself a Christian, I will probably get lumped in with some people whose religion bears very little resemblance to mine. You know, the ones Barry Obama says have “hijacked” religion. I have adopted the term “Christianist” (I don’t remember who coined this expression) for them because they use the name of Jesus Christ but don’t seem to know much about Him or His teachings.

If I say I am Dutch Reformed, almost nobody will know what this even means. Some folks will know the TULIP mnemonic perhaps. I’ve forgotten what the LIP part stands for. If I say I am a Calvinist, I will definitely be misunderstood by most folks. I blame Weber.

I am an anarchist, but I don’t know if I fit any of the subcategories of anarchism because I just don’t know much about them. I’m all for business and entrepreneurship, but I have come to have a lot of contempt for big conglomerates. I’m for free markets and free enterprise, but I don’t give a rat’s patootie about “capitalism”. I don’t worship WalMart. I prefer to buy stuff from local merchants and farmers when I can.

I am a Southerner, but I don’t get NASCAR. I don’t hunt or fish. I do eat fried foods and grits, and I talk with a twang, especially when I’m drunk. I occasionally have taters with breakfast, something my father considers a barbaric Yankee practice. If I have to read out loud, my accent kicks in for some reason. I have learned to speak Standard English and can conceal my regional origins if I wish. I’m pretty sure pro wrestling is fake.

I’m a Celtic-Anglo Saxon-German-Huguenot-Prussian-Dutch-Cherokee American, but I can pass for a WASP in a pinch. I’m a cracker and a redneck, but I have had a lot of book learning, and I prefer wine to beer. I hated “Smokey and the Bandit”. I like French movies.

Just when you think you have me pegged, I throw you a curve. Would you have been able to predict that I am a cricket fan?