Why it's bad for you to say “I am a …”

It sounds harmless to say:

“I am a dentist.”

Many people say “I am a teacher” or “I am a doctor” (or whatever occupation) and think nothing of it. This is not harmless. It damages your cognition and your personality. In the end, it damages the whole society.

Some other “I am a …” statements are even more damaging than occupations.

“I am a political party”

The USA, the UK, and Australia are mostly two-party democratic systems (with some exceptions). Why is Australia less crazy (or less conflict-ridden) than the USA? Multiple reasons, but one of the main reasons is that far too many people in the USA say, “I am a political party”, whereas people in Australia and the United Kingdom never say this.

The ape-war inside each country is:

• USA: “Democrats” versus “Republicans”.

• Australia: The Labor Party versus the Liberal Party.

• UK: The Conservative Party versus the Labour Party.

In the UK and Australia, people never say “I am a Labour” just because they voted for the Labour Party. In contrast, in the USA, many people do say, “I am a Republican”, even though it makes no sense to say, “I am a political party”. This habit of identifying oneself as a party/tribe increases the amount of conflict in the USA.

If people could finally stop thinking in terms of enemy tribes, then they could intelligently debate each one of a person's opinions separately and independently instead of condemning the entire person just because he/she “is a Republican/Democrat”.

The constant tribal “us versus them” thinking causes extremely polarized black & white thinking. Instead of debating an opinion on its merits, people judge it based on who said it and which tribe he is a member of. This is not the behavior of civilized people.

In the end, a lot of people do not even care about the opinions or facts anymore, and they do not care what is right or wrong anymore, rather they just want to form two opposing sides and murder each other like packs of violent chimps.

Thus, saying “I am a Republican/Democrat/Whatever” is very damaging to yourself and the people around you. It is very, very BAD to be “a Republican” or “a Democrat” or “a Greenie” or whatever. It would be much better to say:

“I voted for the Republican Party.”

“I am a country/nationality”

It is also harmful to yourself to say “I am an American” or “I am a Brit” or “I am a German”, etc. It is better to say “I am American/British/German”. Actually, “I am German” is still problematic, but anyway, it is at least better than saying “I am a German”. The difference might seem insignificant because it is only the word “a”, but it does make a difference. A big difference.

You are not a dentist or an American or whatever. You are a person. You are yourself.

I have no nationality for a very good reason. It is beneficial to view yourself as independent and stateless / having no nationality.

As you know, governments are normally plagued by scandals, corruption, and incompetence. Thus every country is constantly making mistakes and blunders. For example, if you say, “I am Spanish” or “my” country or “we”, then every time Spain makes a mistake (every week of every year), you will subconsciously feel like you are making the mistakes.

As if Spain's frequent failures are your fault! You are not a politician, and you do not work in the government, therefore the country's constant mistakes and failures are not yours.

It just feels like it's your fault, because saying “I am Spanish” triggers ancient patriotic (tribal) circuits in the brain. If you believe that you are Spanish, then whenever someone criticizes Spain, you will feel like they are attacking you personally, even though they aren't.

In contrast, if you say…

“I am not Spanish. I simply reside in Spain.”

…then the ancient ape circuits in your human brain will not be activated, and you will be able to think more clearly. That's why I have no nationality.

“I am a sexual orientation”

Likewise, it harms you to say “I am a lesbian” or “I am a homosexual”. Drop the word “a” from all of these harmful statements. Discrimination against homosexual people is worse when people think that “homosexuals” exist – when people subconsciously think that “homosexuals” are a competing tribe (a threat, an enemy) instead of merely a sexual orientation/characteristic.

Be yourself

I read about a woman that had obtained a high-level job and a very high salary at a famous multinational corporation. She liked her job, and she was not suffering anything bad like bullying or sexual harassment in the workplace. It seemed to be a dream job. Nevertheless she decided to quit this “dream job”. She realized that the job had become her identity, and she was nothing outside of her job title and nothing without her employer.

Furthermore she realized that this was a dangerous and precarious position to be in, because if she ever lost her job for any reason (for example, corporate restructuring or economic changes), then she would be devastated because she would be like an empty husk because her whole identity was her job. She was hardly anything outside of her job. She was a worker rather than a person. Thus she decided to quit and develop her own identity and her own personality and her own lifestyle.

Many people suffer a crisis or depression when they go into retirement, because if they spent their life thinking, “I am a teacher”, then they kind of feel like their existence is erased when they stop teaching/working. The thinking is approximately like this:

“I am a teacher. Oh wait, I was a teacher. Now I'm... I'm... Oh shit, I'm nothing!! I have no purpose anymore! I'm worthless! I'm useless. I feel like shit.”

To avoid suffering this crisis of identity, it is better to stop thinking “I am a teacher” and start thinking “Teaching is [only] my job” or “I work in education”.

Patriotism promotes wars. People from different countries fight and murder each other for no reason other than the coincidental difference in their birthplaces. This senseless violence occurs more often when people think, for example:

“I am a German, and the Russians (non-Germans) are my enemy [automatically by birth].”

It is better for you to think and say:

“I was born in …”

The same applies to religions. It is harmful to yourself and other people to say: “I am a Christian/Whatever.”

Although “I am …” is better than “I am a …”, consider avoiding both of these statements. For example, it is bad for a person's self-esteem to say “I am disabled”. It is better to say “I have a disability”. The statement “He/she is disabled” promotes discrimination and prejudice.

“I am a feminist” practically means “I am a man-hater”. Consider saying something else such as “I support feminism” or “I support equal rights for men and women”.

Identity politics is a massive source of conflict and unhappiness for humans. Whenever someone identifies himself/herself as A THING instead of a person, trouble arises. This kind of harmful thinking is reinforced by statements such as “I am a …”, therefore it is best to use statements that do not trigger identity politics.

Many of these “I am a …” statements are actually dehumanizing. You want to be a person, right? You don't want to be a thing, right? If you want to be a person, then talk like a person.

• “A dentist” is not a person, rather it's a dental service – a thing.

• “A Republican” or “a Democrat” is not a person, rather it's a voting decision that should be reassessed every year.

• Likewise, “homosexuals” don't exist whereas homosexuality does exist.

• Your country of birth is merely a birthplace. It is not you. You are you (or at least you should be).

You can be whatever/however you want to be. It should be your own decision, not enforced upon you by birth.