I'm Sick of All These Labels!!

[Tristyn]

So I am sure no one is without the knowledge of the recent terror attack in Orlando. But why do newscasters have to point out that the victims of the shootings were mostly Latinos and LGBT with so much damn severity? I think it's so stupid and mindless of them to glue labels onto people. Whether they were straight, queer, white, purple, turquoise or whatever, just the fact that these were innocent people is truly bad enough for me. No innocent human deserves death. What is with all of these labels? Why does everyone have to victimize LGBT, Latino and African American people? I don't even view myself as a "type" of person anymore. I am just "me." At first, I really was concerned about how I need to label myself; trans? Transgender? Black trans guy? There are like so many out there that I just gave up and now I am "me." These labels help fuel much of the homophobia and transphobia cancer that has been conceived from ignorance, pure hatred, and excessive fear of the unknown. Seriously, it needs to stop!

In addition to that, why does the media stress so much that the killer was mental? People, like me, who have mental illnesses already have a bad enough rep thanks to Hollywood and other bull crap media presentations incorrectly portraying such individuals in their peanut butter and jelly drama movies and >-bleeped-<. I was in the psyche ward for like seven or eight days last week, and it was a fellow patient in there who said what I am saying basically about this horrifying stigma that has been shunned onto people like her and me. Media has done especially well to put fear and ignorance in the hearts of those considered "normal" about those considered "mentally ill." She brought up a really good point. She even went so far as to say; "Why do they have to point his mental illness? They would never mention someone 'normal' doing such a thing!"

[RobynD]

I share your frustration in all these areas. The efforts to divide people into nice little boxes is so old and tired.

[FTMax]

Labels IMO exist for two primary reasons: so you can group with people like yourself, and so corporations know how to market to you. Stemming off the primary reasons, labels can tell you who you don't want to associate with, what someone's views may be, whether it is likely that they will like or dislike something, etc.

Like it or not, specifically mentioning demographic information is important in crime reporting. You can't classify something as a hate crime without those labels. Since my understanding is that they do intend to both pursue it as an act of terrorism and a hate crime, knowing that the perpetrator of the crime actively sought to kill people of a specific demographic is important and that's why it's reported as such.

I think in day to day life, labels are not as important unless you find yourself in a situation from the first paragraph - you're looking for likely friends, or you're marketing to a specific group of people.

[Semira]

The only time the US media will ever discuss mental illness is when something horrific happens. The country in general doesn't care about mental illness at all and chooses to completely ignore it until something horrible happens and then there they are at the forefront to vilify. Then after a couple weeks everyone goes right back to ignoring them. There are millions of people who are in need of help but nobody will help them. If someone isn't violent then they'll just get tossed aside. And if someone is violent, they'll probably just get shot. Problem solved? That's how the US deals with mental illness. It's disgusting.

It is also my opinion that hate can be a form of mental illness. Hate can destroy even the best of us if given enough time. Hate poisons the mind in the worst way. I know it sounds corny but people who are filled with hate need...love. They need to see and experience something other than hate. Unfortunately hateful people often don't get the help they need either before it's too late.

While I have never been diagnosed with a mental illness (never tried) I am self aware enough to know that I have serious problems up there. It isn't something I'm capable of fixing on my own. But nobody will ever help me. My family chose to ignore it long ago. I have no friends to lean on. Unless I fork over piles of cash that I don't have, there's no help coming. Society can be thankful that I don't have a violent bone in my body. They can let me suffer in silence.

[Tristyn]

The only time the US media will ever discuss mental illness is when something horrific happens. The country in general doesn't care about mental illness at all and chooses to completely ignore it until something horrible happens and then there they are at the forefront to vilify. Then after a couple weeks everyone goes right back to ignoring them. There are millions of people who are in need of help but nobody will help them. If someone isn't violent then they'll just get tossed aside. And if someone is violent, they'll probably just get shot. Problem solved? That's how the US deals with mental illness. It's disgusting.

It is also my opinion that hate can be a form of mental illness. Hate can destroy even the best of us if given enough time. Hate poisons the mind in the worst way. I know it sounds corny but people who are filled with hate need...love. They need to see and experience something other than hate. Unfortunately hateful people often don't get the help they need either before it's too late.

While I have never been diagnosed with a mental illness (never tried) I am self aware enough to know that I have serious problems up there. It isn't something I'm capable of fixing on my own. But nobody will ever help me. My family chose to ignore it long ago. I have no friends to lean on. Unless I fork over piles of cash that I don't have, there's no help coming. Society can be thankful that I don't have a violent bone in my body. They can let me suffer in silence.

Semira, I'm so sorry you have no one for support at all. You sound like a very strong woman who is able to endure life's hardships without self-pity. I admire that dearly. I hope for you, for all of us, that those with unloving or uncaring family and friends will come around and really want to comprehend our pain.


@ FTMax: I agree with you, man. If it weren't for demographics (labels) it would have been a mess trying to figure out who the primary targets of the killer was. In some ways, I see that having labels can be helpful, but at the same time they are very controlling and stigmatizing quite similarly to gender. And if labels did not exist, Susan's may have never been conceived and I as well as others would be without international support from one another. So they are both a gift and a curse.

[Kylo]

I don't think labels can be avoided. I mean the label of LGBT people can be both helpful and harmful in this case - it can be helpful to label the victims as such because it highlights the plight we are in in that we are murdered just for existing. Without that label, people would just see it as "another senseless crime" and forget about the fact we are an at-risk group. It wasn't a 'senseless' (i.e. random) crime if the perp believed personally, religiously or culturally that it makes sense to kill LGBT people.

It can be harmful in detracting from the other potential motivations of the crime, or indeed from the idea we are humans too.

I think the reason people and the media always move to denounce a killer as mentally ill or deficient is to separate them from the rest of us - the idea a 'normal person' would kill 50 or so people unprovoked is unthinkable to most. But I know for a fact killers can be perfectly sane. Disturbed or morally bankrupt maybe, but very much sane and capable of blending into society right up until the point they commit their atrocity.