Pigeon-Holed Again

As you may have gathered from the last post, I'm still figuring out who I am. I've been working on it for 32 years, and I'm not done. Imagine my surprise upon discovering, while on the elliptical rider watching CNN, that a new pigeon-hole had been invented for me: apparently, I am a GRUP.

Grups, or Gruppies, are "30-40 somethings" who live (in someone's opinion) like they are in their 20's. They go out drinking. They stay up late for concerts. They go to work in jeans and listen to iPods. They don't get married, or if they do, they take their kids to happy hour with them. According to some web-sites, the term comes from a Star Trek episodes where all the adults (or grown-ups, shortened to "grups") have died, and the children get sick when they hit puberty (for my fellow Trekkers, the episode is "Miri").

I'm not sure who coined the term. To me, Gruppy sounds like the 8th dwarf, who was too hung over from a concert to get in on the Snow White gig. Or a genetic hybrid of a small fish and a small dog. You know who I'm almost sure didn't coin it, though? A 30-40 something who might still act in some ways like they did a decade ago. Few people categorize themselves in these sorts of abstractions. Rather, I'm sure someone who saw a bunch of people doing something different and decided to slap on a label. Thanks.

I have two major issues with this sort of pigeon-holing. First, it highlights the problem of our sound bite society. There may be an intriguing question about societal forces and why measures of maturity are changing; however, most people, and certainly the media, don't have the attention span to discuss this in a helpful manner. It's easier, and a better story, to find people with a few similar characteristics and label them a group.

Being labelled isn't the end of the world -- sticks and stones may break my bones...yada,yada, yada. The second problem is that once you're labelled, you can be dismissed -- certainly as an individual, and probably as a group. Suddenly there are no faces, just a blanket term. Unfortunately, human history has shown that dismissal isn't the worst outcome -- it can lead to blame, persecution, abuse, and even genocide.

If you don't believe me about the dismissal, think about the recently highlighted problem of "illegals". You're supposed to believe they're a bunch of Mexicans who snuck across the border. You're not supposed to care that some came to be with children who were born here and are American citizens. You're not supposed to notice that the proponents of "family values" want to rip these families apart. In some circles, you're supposed to believe that they are a big drain on the health care system, and should be denied benefits. I'm not suggesting this is an easy issue. I just use the example to point out how easy it is not to think about personal stories and hypocracies when a blanket label is easier.

I don't care if you can't figure me out. Hell, I can't figure me out most of the time. But if you want to deal with me, at least make an honest effort. I'd rather you guess wrong than slap on a label so you don't have to get that close. Besides, there isn't enough room on me for all the labels that might apply: gay, bi, left-wing, Democrat, Pro-choice, Trekker, hick, Catholic, geek, nerd, jock, educrat, and, yes, grup. You do the Venn diagram.

As for me, I'll leave it at a quote from a Renaissance Man, the one label for which I do strive:

"I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know"
--Thomas Jefferson

(Pictures from www.officemuseum.com and www.2learn.ca, respectively)