What do you consider as your identity?

[noname223]

Not sure where this thread is heading. If many people associate identity politics with it could become heated.

There are different ways how I could start with it. Maybe to question the full concept of identity. Is there something as an objective identity or is this only a narrative we tell ourselves in order to deal with life better? Maybe it is more practical in a world of chaos and despair to cling to the concept of identity. We can feel as a part of a group. This helps many people to deal with existential loneliness.

There are many different groups to which we can have the feeling to belong to. We can feel superior to outsiders and see ourselves as better. Marketing and advertisements use this trick to sell us products. With buying a product we can feel as a member of a priviledged group. Moreover religions and national states have used this concept to gain the support of their followers. These 2 examples show how devastating the consequences can be if you have blind trust in your group. This often can lead to discrimination against outsiders. Not seldom the disdain for outsiders can lead to horrible crimes. We concentrate too much on our differences and forget that we are all sentient beings.

On the other hand I don't want to demonize the concept of identity. It can give you strength and the feeling of compassion. For some people this even can become their meaning in life. I think the most important thing is to always question your own beliefs. To check your own reality and not drifting away in echo chambers. We often experience this on social media. It has to be a rational approach to this concept.

What is my personal identity? This was the initial question which I have asked myself. I want to ask you the same. Though if it could leak you you might should not be too specific about it. For example if you feel the affiliation to a local identity.

In this forum I often emphasize that I am a German. Many of my peers rather see themselves as Europeans. For me personally I feel a stronger connection to me as a German. Maybe that fact is caused by the German language, the way we have remolded our history or simply some childhood experiences. I think the abuse and domestic violence I have endured also shaped my identity. Another big part of my identity is my suicidality and my bipolar disorder. It determines my whole life. I have to plan very detailed my whole life in order to deal with these two influences.

What do consider your own identity? Or do you think the whole concept of identity is too artifical?

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I think in some cases, mainly mine, identity doesn't matter because no matter what I do people will make of me what they will and are not going to particularly care what I actually identify as before making their judgments. For example, anyone who looks at me would probably be guaranteed to see me as an Asian before an American even though I vastly prefer the latter label and can only understand English.

Maybe they'll also see that I'm tall and don't have any outward deformities leading them to mistakenly assume that I'm a decent human being and not an "idiot loser incel who's bent on destroying the world through wanton consumption and has every evil tendency known to man". That's my identity. It's not the one I wanted to have, but the one I want people to be aware of even though many refuse to see it.

 

[Fragile]

Very interesting, I never given much thought to consciously having an identity. The whole concept has been ruined by internet people who are very annoying about the way they identify, at least in my eyes. But that's mostly about identity seekers who will make any new popular thing their entire personality.

I guess mine would also be tied to my nationality to some degree, even if I don't look very latino, people in here don't give a fuck about racial identity. So I never identified with my mixture of ethnicities, I'm just a Colombian whether I like it or not.

Many people have labeled me as hippy though my life, mostly because the way I look and the vices I constantly indulge in. When I think about it, I really fit the label lol. Always wearing baggy clothes, haven't used shoes in years (only sandals), vegetarian and ultra long hair for a guy.

But what I identify most with is my illnesses, it's just way too intrusive to not think about it. The poor prognosis of it has shaped my life more than anything.

And about my politics and stuff, I don't really care.

In this forum I often emphasize that I am a German. Many of my peers rather see themselves as Europeans. For me personally I feel a stronger connection to me as a German. Maybe that fact is caused by the German language, the way we have remolded our history or simply some childhood experiences.

Aside from the language, what are other identifying features of a German? I'm really curious since this country has a lot of particularities that make it unique in Europe. But as you said, I've noticed that Germans tend to identify as european most of the time.

 

[noname223]

Very interesting, I never given much thought to consciously having an identity. The whole concept has been ruined by internet people who are very annoying about the way they identify, at least in my eyes. But that's mostly about identity seekers who will make any new popular thing their entire personality.

I guess mine would also be tied to my nationality to some degree, even if I don't look very latino, people in here don't give a fuck about racial identity. So I never identified with my mixture of ethnicities, I'm just a Colombian whether I like it or not.

Many people have labeled me as hippy though my life, mostly because the way I look and the vices I constantly indulge in. When I think about it, I really fit the label lol. Always wearing baggy clothes, haven't used shoes in years (only sandals), vegetarian and ultra long hair for a guy.

But what I identify most with is my illnesses, it's just way too intrusive to not think about it. The poor prognosis of it has shaped my life more than anything.

And about my politics and stuff, I don't really care.

Aside from the language, what are other identifying features of a German? I'm really curious since this country has a lot of particularities that make it unique in Europe. But as you said, I've noticed that Germans tend to identify as european most of the time.

There are some typical German things. I try to plan a lot, mabye conscientiousness (maybe this is only a stereotype), I trust in bureaucracy, maybe the sentiment of being morally superior and the arrogance which is caused by it. Lol. Kind of my self-righteousness etc.

 

[DeepSlumber]

? Ridiculous amounts of tracts, essays, volumes have explored this, and, though I've read a fair amount, I am still no closer to figuring any out. Mystery of genetics would be my guess. That, and evolutionary biology and natural selection. That rings truest.

 

[FuneralCry]

The way I see it, our lives are all meaningless, I do not have an identity, I am nothing, I will eventually die and be forgotten about, it will be like I never existed in the first place. Life is just a pointless experience that we go through for the sake of it. Our lives do not matter at all, everything that seems important to us now will die with us. I think the idea that there is any sort of meaning in life is a delusion.

 

[hungry_ghost]

I was thinking about this lately, and perhaps my recent revelation that I may have ADD/ADHD plays into this identity confusion:

I feel as though I am simply a collection of memories, data, and characteristics that I have absorbed from various sources over the years, whether that be learned behavior through observation, or trauma, or coping mechanisms. I've often "mimicked" people that I liked, and adopted their mannerisms, attitudes, and sentiments.

I do not feel like I have anything original to me, personally, and it's disturbing.

I often do feel like a non-entity who is just addicted to stimuli.