Extremist!
Fringe!
Bigot!
And the list goes on.
In the world of social media, the dominant characteristic is how people label those they despise. The problem though, is not labeling, but bad labeling. There are those who intentionally do this to start a fire. But the fact that labeling can start a fire reveals the power of labeling. Proper labeling has amazing power to do good.
Author Robert De Filippis in his book “On Coaching with The Birkman Method” discusses what is called Linguistic Construct. Proper linguistic interpretation of an interaction is vital to maintaining good relationships with others.
Consider how easy it is to call someone a jerk. Perhaps a loved one does something inconsiderate to you. You lash out, “you’re such a jerk!”
Is your loved one really a stupid foolish person? Unlikable? A cruel person? Small-minded? (Meriam-Webster) The label hurts and inspires a backlash. Not the smartest thing when you want to maintain a good relationship.
You decide, what inspires more emotion and confrontation.
That was inconsiderate. Vs You’re a jerk!
That hurt me. Vs You’re a jerk!
I felt abandoned. Vs You’re a jerk!
Facing the truth of one’s failures can be painful, but it is a lot easier to swallow when proper labelling occurs. How children are negatively influenced by labeling is a whole other story.
Some estimate the English language has over a million words, yet often interactions are described with a handful of cusswords. Really, when people consistently cutting corners of proper descriptive language, they soon lose the ability to do so.
We must expand our vocabulary and use proper descriptive language if we are to be emotionally intelligent. This is an intelligent move.
