We place labels on each other and divide ourselves from the rest of the human race. Being a “mod,” for instance, means one likes a certain type of lifestyle. Hippies, southerners, low riders, urbanites, rockers and Jesus freaks. These labels divide us. They aid marketers in hawking their clients products our way. The labels are handed down to us by crafty advertisers and all too quickly accepted. But they are divisive, and not to our benefit.
The labels become part of our history. The “Zoot Suiters” of the early 1940s are the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of the low riders of today. The labels give us identity.
Clinging to the label also identifies us as not liking certain styles, places, things, and people. Hippies are known to dislike the establishment. Rockers are not too fond of the low rider type. Jesus freaks, or the religious types, understand most “mods” to be atheist.
It takes a third party agency, a marketing agency, to bridge the gaps people dig between themselves. The same third party type that created the division in the first place. We at first appreciate the label, it makes us feel we have an identity, then we resent the divisiveness, not the label, but the divide between our labels and all the others. Then we appreciate, gratefully, the entities that close the gaps and bring us all together.
Groovy Guru