I
f you’ve ever watched a cliché American High School movie, you’ve seen it. You get the jocks and the nerds, the barbie-dolls and the goths,
the witbroodjies and the rebels. And although in real life the social ‘classes’ aren’t set in concrete like they are in Mean Girls, many of us have received
labels that distinguish us as a certain ‘type’. “Oh, don’t let her hear, she’s a pliggie.” “Yeah, he stole his dad’s car this weekend; he’s one of those guys.” Such labels can be irritating, to say the least. They create the assumption that you are a certain type of person, and that certain type only, when in reality, you’re not. Just because she doesn’t talk much and always does her homework, doesn’t mean she doesn’t secretly have a dark sense of humour and a
pair of Ray Bans™. And just because he likes to be a bit of a daredevil, doesn’t mean he doesn’t work his hardest at school to get into a good university. Now this emotional stuff is all well and good, but no matter how many times people tell society not to label others, they still do it – and labels stick. It will take much more than just a strong word from a Circum Journalist to change others’ opinions. So, let’s abandon the hackneyed ‘it doesn’t matter what they think’ philosophy, and get down to some real, constructive advice – how to strategically influence what others think of you.
