Categories are the basis of bigotries, not the emotional basis but the so called logical basis, they are how bigotries calculate.
So fuck em.
But categories have something going for them, all recognition, and why not risk it, all cognition, seems to rely on these categories. If I come to a tree laying across a creek that is a "bridge" to me, because it falls in a category... and I have no trouble visualizing using it as a bridge.
Categories are useful. So wait.
Now why am I telling you this?
Because I'm afraid you don't know. It's a part of the progressive spirit, according to me, to not place people in categories, and indeed to have an open mind, one must question all their categories all the time (more effort than most have time for).
Is that condescending... does everyone here know that their biases hide in the way they categorize things? Is it obvious?
Categorizing our opponents as monsters... that's why that's always wrong. Then you start deciding what can be done to a category rather than an individual. When the time comes in the real world it's always individuals involved, you can pretend it's a category, but it has to be an individual. The category is imaginary.
Then some Republicans think "hey, that category can be tortured, that category cut off that categories head and they know others in their category that might help us categorize this if we get category from them."
Categories, use them wisely.