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About this quote

What does it mean?
Naming or labeling someone can cause deep psychological harm.
In plain terms
Giving someone a name or label can hurt them deeply.
What can you take from it?
Labels and names can restrict or harm a person's identity.

Where it applies

  • interpersonal conflict
  • public perception
  • labeling

Putting it to work

  • avoid labels
  • respect identities

Questions to consider

  • How do labels affect how you see others?
  • Have you been hurt by a label?

Another view

Names are often necessary for communication and social order.

More from Marshall McLuhan

  1. The medium is the message.

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  2. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.

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  3. The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village.

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