Labeling

As of recent we have been talking quite a bit in my Honors English class about labels. They are all around us and there's no way to avoid them. One of the biggest ones is that of a bank geek. I was wondering how the band students received such a label and it led me on quite a chain of labels; ultimately ending with "Band Geek."
I thought of the studies showing that those directly involved with music tend to be much more successful in the classroom. Then I wondered why people that were smart like this were looked down upon. It's probably that the "popular" kids feel kind of threatened by these music playing 4.0 students. Some students just don't understand geeks and when you don't know much about something it's a natural tendency to fear it.
So I concluded that fear is the root supporting all labels. It's the minds way of protecting yourself. If you are rapped by a Hispanic then everything you see someone of a Hispanic ethnicity you are going to associate them with your bad feelings/memory's of the rape. I know that that is an extreme example, but the concept holds true to all labels and subjects. Labels aren't necessarily bad unless a person takes it too far publicly. It's a defense mechanism. If you don't agree with my concept then you can just label me as stubborn and hard headed and I'll label you as narrow-minded.