Truth be told, there are far to many 'isms' to talk about. Veganism, Feminism, Theism, Nudism. There's a box with a label for everyone. Hell, you can devide yourself over several boxes even. If I look at myself a large handful of ism's apply. And I must atmit, I don't know a lot about those isms. Here is what I do know: 

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Definition of an ism?

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There are 4 ways to define an Ism. (source: ismbook.com)

• a distinctive doctrine, cause, theory or religion

• manner of action or behavior characteristic of a (specified) person or thing

• prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a (specified) attritube

• adherence to a system or a class of principles

With these definitions, you can place an Ism in 1 of 5 categories.(source: ismbook.com)

• political isms

• cultural isms

• social isms

• systemic isms

• philosophical isms

Based on these definitions and categories you can get a better idea of what Ism's really mean. Since there are so many Ism's and things like Veganism aren't really in my field of interest, I don't know a whole lot about them. 

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What to keep in mind about Ism's

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So, if I don't know anything about many of those ism's, then why talk about them at all?

Well, quite simple. Regardless of what I know about them, there are couple of things that apply in any case. The first I can think of are these. 

• Many people don't know a lot about all kinds of ism's.

• People will have misconceptions about all kinds of ism's.

• People are prejudice about all kinds of ism's.

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I've experienced this first hand, when debating 'atheism'. Which on it's own isn't an 'ism' at all. It most definitely isn't a worldview. The 'Ism' applies to 'Theism'. Basically it means 'not-theism', but it doesn't give a clue about 'what in stead of theism'. However, people always see the need to add things to it like humanism or materialism. Those views might be a 'go to view' when you are not a theist, but other than that, they have nothing to do with atheism. 

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And I suppose, this is how it goes with a lot of other 'isms' aswell. I barely know anything about 'feminism' or 'veganism'. But I can surely think of a couple of things that might belong to it. Would it be correct to make those assumptions? No, probably not.

 

That being said, even I find myself having prejudice or misconceptions. I've spoken with Vegans and Feminists and they did correct some of the ideas I had about it. What I mainly have taken from these conversations is "When you talk about these 'isms' and someone tells you what you think about it, is wrong. You might want to open up to the idea that you are wrong and you can take it as a learning opportunity."​

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