The world can be a frustrating and cruel place.
You should never expect to walk through life without seeing and hearing things that shock,
offend, and disgust you.
Unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
Often these offensive and shocking ideas take the form of harassment against individuals or groups,
and people in certain groups are more likely to receive hate than others.
For example, public figures, and celebrities, by the nature of their inflated exposure to
the world tend to receive way more harassment than other people.
But even among those who aren't public figures, groups like women and LGBT people statistically
receive a disproportionate amount of harassment and bullying.
The things people say and the ideas people share can have an impact our mood and emotional
state.
But at the end of the day, they're just words, right?
They don't actually hurt anybody.
Right?
Hi, I'm T1J. (Follow me!)
So harassment and bullying is a big problem, especially online.
And this problem is made more complicated by the fact that certain types of people are
disproportionately targeted.
Which calls into the conversation questions about prejudice and stereotypes and perceptions
of certain groups.
Which is sadly more than I want to cover in this particular video.
But maybe one day.
So I think that most people agree that when harassment evolves into physical violence
or stalking and other credible threats to someone's safety and well-being, that's
something we shouldn't ignore.
But what verbal or written harassment?
While most people acknowledge that it exists and it sucks, a lot of people's default
reaction is to downplay their significance.
Because they're only words, of course, they can't actually hurt you.
But there's several problems with this.
First of all, I should point out that I think this is often said disingenuously.
Like there's kind of a movement in today's society that is trying really hard to normalize
douchey behavior.
By calling people snowflakes or triggered, or overly PC whenever they call someone out
for being an asshole.
And I think this is often that.
People are like, "get over it.
Stop being so sensitive.
It's just words."
But no, it's okay to call someone out if they've been a garbage human.
And I think it's pretty harmful to make the assertion that it's unreasonable for
a victim of harassment to confront or condemn their harassers.
Regardless of the nature of that harassment.
Beyond that, I think this mindset implies that emotional pain is somehow less significant
or less traumatizing than physical pain.
Which is obviously ridiculous.
Anyone who has ever felt depression or anxiety or fear or loneliness knows those emotions
can be just as if not more intense than physical pain.
And I think we should all be able to agree that words and ideas can lead to us having
these emotions.
People can say things that make us sad or angry or anxious.
Like when I read that Snake wasn't gonna be in the new Smash Bros. game.
I raged.
This is also backed by science, studies show that the same parts of your brain that react
to physical pain, also react to social or emotional pain.
In many cases, your brain literally can't tell the difference.
It's also been shown that certain words, particularly words that reference or relate
to pain or painful situations, trigger a pain response in the brain.
Sort of like if you're getting a shot at the doctor and they tell you, "this might
hurt."
That essentially makes the pain worse because it basically tells your brain, "go ahead
and fire up those pain receptors!"
So if someone is sending you harassing messages about how you should kill yourself or how
they're gonna punch you in the face if they see you,
or spreading ideas about how your race should be cleansed or how you should undergo painful
conversion therapy, this literally activates the region of your brain that processes pain.
Harassment and bullying can also have long term effects on the brain.
I think that most of us can agree at least on a basic level that bullying can lead to
depression and anxiety, and at the very least stress.
And we all know that stress is very unhealthy.
It can lead to actual physical pain through headaches, and fatigue and muscle tension.
And it can lead to behaviors that cause physical pain, like drug abuse, or overeating.
Or binge watching the Office on Netflix.
And they're about to remove The Office from Netflix yall!
Talk about emotional reactions.
What am I gonna do?
I have never cared about fictional characters as much I care about Jim and Pam.
This is an outrage.
…Anyway.
There was a study done at the University of Ottawa that suggests that long term bullying
actually caused teenagers brains to regularly produce excessive levels of cortisol, which
is a hormone that is normally released in the body in response to stress.
According to the researchers, the overproduction of cortisol actually impacts other brain functions,
particularly your memory.
So I think most of us who value not being an asshole, understand that it's just not
cool to harass or bully people, verbally or otherwise.
But on that same token, it's inaccurate and irresponsible to tell people just suck
it up and take it, because they're only words.
Because the fact of the matter is words and ideas can and do hurt, sometimes more than
sticks and stones.
DAS JUS ME DOE.
What do you think?
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discussions about social issues, current events and pop culture.
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And remember, stay HAKO!
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