MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Why aren't people's fragile psyche built...

Why aren't people's fragile psyche built to withstand harmless words?


I've watched the world go from:

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but WORDS will never hurt me"

to:

"words are mentally equal to physical violence"

in what insane uni-meta-multi-verse does that make any sense???
WORDS hurt you? My god. What a bunch of pussies.

Some one says, "Oh, you are UGLY!" and you fall apart? Why even care about others opinions?

It's time to reverse this all and get back to the real world.
Sticks and stones FACTUALLY COULD break your bones and hurt you... but words only do whatever YOU CHOOSE to allow them to. Why are people so dumb to ALLOW words to hurt?

It's literally that simple to fix.

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Ok boomer

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HahahhaHHHa. You really have zero relevance to add to this discussion, don't you.
Ok boomer is the best you can conjur? Oooooh in sòoooo offended. Hahahaahahaaha

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And yet words can destroy a person's entire life these days. So I think words can hurt just as much as sticks and stones.

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These days..... see?

why NOW instead of before? See what I'm saying?

Word are all only in your head. You control your head. No one else.

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Why bother posting all these pointless words?
By your own definition, no one cares what you have to say.

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Point, set and match

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Tell that to someone who loses their job over something they tweeted, and aren't you men all afraid of lying, feminists who will make false rape accusations about you? I mean those are just words, so they shouldn't hurt at all should they?

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I'm also afraid it's an attempt to excuse any and all ugly remarks as being acceptable.
There is currently a very real effort to destabilize messaging and therefore society, that we are free to choose to believe and react to any messages as we see fit. Some people want to feel free to openly lie and expect no negative consequences while hoping to influence others to believe the lie. Or say whatever awful thing they want and claim no one has to take it seriously.

(Why should those Sandy Hook parents be concerned Alex Jones says their children didn't die? Shouldn't their shoulders be broader than that?) That's what this is leading to.
The fabric of our society is under attack by people spreading distrust and discord using facile justifications to explain away how destructive it is.

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I do agree with this 100%. It's easy to say what ever you want, when there really are no consequences. Pre internet our bubbles were much smaller, and the impact of our words was more accessible.

Now, too many people have a voice that does make an impact. Like Alex Jones, and some of the far right/left media who wouldn't have had an audience before the internet, can spew what ever they want without fact checking, and it can have a dangerous impact on society.

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I never heard of ‘flat-Earthers’ and the ‘Lizard People who run the world’ before we got the internet. Either the web is loaded with nitwits or the rest of us have been lied to all our lives. I going with the former.

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And nothing those nitwits say finds purchase in the market place of ideas (as demonstrated in you appropriately dismissing those ideas having had the chance to judge them for yourself). Far more dangerous is the urge among self-appointed “speech arbiters” to declare which opinions are entitled to be heard. “Too many people have a voice” is a dangerous philosophy because censorship always captures legitimate speech in trying to extinguish nitwit speech and the power to censor always produces corruption.

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The web IS loaded with nitwits!



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I remember those Sandy Hook conspiracies, that was some vile, cruel stuff.
It’s hard to imagine how those families felt even before thoughtless idiots began accusing them all of being liars.

I’m not usually one to shout ‘sue’ but I hope there was a boatload of lawsuits against the maniacs responsible for that garbage.

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just more examples of how words have this invisible power that they SHOULD NEVER HAVE!!! Tweets??? Are you kidding me? Is this a GOOD thing people are fired for having an opinion... or they get death threats from around the GLOBE because they have their own thoughts on something? This is WORD ABUSE. And the AI is setting it all up for us to shoot our own foot.... STARTING with this new religion of how "words are oh so powerful". Words dont do ANYTHING. Our REACTIONS are the everything.

Maybe we should start ignoring tweets instead of firing people. that's on you and me.
Maybe we should stop with death threats to people with different ideas. That's on you and me.

It's ALL on you and me to stop this words bullshit.
Maybe if we all man-up and stop allowing tweets to ruin lives, the power will be gone.

I know tweets NEVER affect my life. Ever. Why? That's all on me. I control it. It does not control me.

Thank you for bringing a valid example AND proving my point exactly.

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YOU ARE A COMPLETE WASTE OF SKIN...JUST A BIG MOUTHED JACKASS...RAMBLING ON AND ON ABOUT WHATEVER SEEMS TO INFLATE YOUR EGO THE MOST THAT DAY...SO BRAVE AND BOLD.

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Your point was that words don't hurt and that people were pussies. You know what though, pussies are powerful. It's really sad that men think that it's an insult, especially when they give them so much power.

I'm kind of tired of this sock. Maybe you should find a new one.

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Men think calling someone a “dick” is likewise an insult. I don’t know that there’s some larger social meaning to these juvenile slurs

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"words are mentally equal to physical violence"

Funny because I've also heard that silence = violence.

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You seem to have made the error of believing a sing-song adage we sometimes tell to kindergarten-age children to stop them from getting into scraps and having tantrums is a code for an entire complex society to live by.

It's easily done.

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Well said

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Top tip: it doesn't even work on kindergarten-age children.

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And now people are offended, triggered, and depressed about EVERYTHING.
This is an improvement in society? How?

Pay attention, Mirelick, this guy is doing discussion correctly. You'll learn it someday

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I dont think theres any correlation between people being "offended, triggered, and depressed"
and your perceived lack of freedom to be a dick to people

If you cant see how people can be hurt by words theres no chance of explaing it to you.

I've watched the world go from:
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but WORDS will never hurt me"

That was NEVER the world , as explained eloquently by Capuchin above.

Could I sit still on a chair for 10 mins while you repeatedly called my mother a whore? sure.
Would i be bleeding? broken bones? no .
Would my feelings be hurt? no .

Just because i would be able to achieve this result in a calling-your-mom-a-whore competition absolutely in NO way proves that words cant be harmful.

Like i said - it doesent look like you'll ever get it.





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I get it. I'm just not affected by it, and annoyed others cave so easily.

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Just as most of us have not had the experience of being shot in a mugging,
Perhaps you have not been a victim of the kind of verbal abuse that can drive people to suicide.

Bring called a White Supremacist on a website is small potatoes that can be brushed off without noticing.

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i think I see our disconnect here.

"Words can never hurt you" was not just meaning "Words never hurt", it was designed as a programming/teaching fullfillment of explaining to people that you do not have to ALLOW idiots to pain you with words....

Sticks and Stones break bones... words do not, THERE FORE, they can't REALLY "hurt" you, if you choose to not let them. consider the source, know the idiot TRYING to offend you knows nothing, has no power over your feelings, because YOU control how you react.

Does that make more sense? "Words don't hurt" was never the intent. UNDERSTANDING that words don't have to hurt, is.

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ok , i think i see your distinction

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Thank you, capuchin. From Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”: “Words are like weapons, they can sound some times.”

A truism older than the infantile “sticks and stones”: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Being adept at both pen and sword, I concur.

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I blame PC and social media.

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But but but.... isn't PC here to help? How's that been working out? :D

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I have yet to see anything positive come from Political Correctness, or its hideous, eldritch monstrosity of a child; wokeism.

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this is a side discussion that is totally related to this, affects it, and is extremely important, I wish other posters here would read about.

Of course, being nicer to people, or "Politically correct" is a great idea in society - everyone knows this, and nearly all religions have preached it since their inception.... BUT, issue is, this is not how PC is working. It is making things far far worse - yet hides behind its white knight virtue, and if you are against it, you are a bad bad person. that is one of the many wrongs it is doing.

its like communism: seems good on paper, but never in reality.

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It's true, while PC claims its original intent was to stop prejudice and stop being cruel and offensive to people, the truth is, it hasn't worked out so well. People have used political correctness to disrupt much of our culture and society, rather than trying to stop bigotry. If anything, it has made things worse.

Funny you should mention "communism." You see, one way communism took a hold in other countries in the past, was to pit different groups against each other through "critical theory" propaganda. In Bosnia, they pitted different religious groups against each other. In China, (and I bet they did this in Russia too), they pitted different classes against each other. In fact, in China, they called it "Critical Class Theory," whereas in America, the Chinese have taken advantage of racial divisions here and pushed different groups (such as politicians, the media, and race-hustlers) into making blacks and everyone else mad at each other. Communists with eyes on the govt. will take advantage of the chaos caused by the internal strife to take over.

I'm actually wondering if "The Naked Communist" has anything on political correctness and changing the way people talk about stuff?

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YOU SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT.

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The world hasn't changed that much. Maybe your worldview or perception has, but people have always been hurt by words. It might be more acceptable to as this out loud, and about time, but it wasn't untrue before. Tell me, if someone called another person's mother a whore in the past, did that have no affect on them? Did no one commit suicide in the past?

Emotions aren't something we allow ourselves to feel, they are often outside of our control to a great extent. We can't fix something we can't control, not that we were broken to begin with.

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Words reflect attitudes, values and opinions which can have negative cconsequences especially if that person has power. For instance, if you were a defendant and overheard two jurors refer to your ethnic group with a slur, would you trust them to be objective? Would you trust a cook who called you a slur to handle your food? Would you think it be OK to call a 5-year-old ugly, useless and stupid everyday for a month?

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“Would you think it be OK to call a 5-year-old ugly, useless and stupid everyday”

Pretty much the first 10 years of my life and no, it’s not ok.

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Never ok. Very sad.

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are we saying people don't understand it is not right to pick on children?

I think we can hold more of an adult conversation than that. YES, everyone with half a brain knows it is incorrect to mentally abuse kids... that is not THIS issue. This issue is spelled out above in ADULTS getting offended and triggered, when all they have to do is grow the fuck up and learn to deal with life instead of crying about it - like someone took their toy away.

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"to pick on"
"mentally abuse"

You answered our own question in your comment. Insults are mental abuse and picking on someone else.

As your defense of young children demonstrates, they're not just words.

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I was never discussing CHILDREN in my initial post. thought I was speaking only to adults here.
everyone knows abusing children is bad.

BUT I didn't specific any parameters, so my bad

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You already admitted it's abuse and picking on. Why do you want to abuse and pick on black people?

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... or space aliens, or indians, or cats or what the fuck are you going off about now???

Here's your free "Jump to conclusions" mat! :D :D :D

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When I was younger the word c*nt would trigger women in to a spaz out, essentially an uncontrollable tantrum of screaming, crying, and anger.

N*gg*r is the most powerful word in the English language. Using it in the wrong context is heresy against the system - rapists are treated far better then heretics in this society.

The N-word has successfully been used in USA to drop murder charges down to involuntary man slaughter. The word induces insanity. Black men have no control over their actions after hearing it.

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the level of insane out there now is just ludicrous.

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White racists are upset because they want to be allowed to use that word again like the good old days of Jim Crow and lynchings.

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Really? When EVERY SHOW, and EVERY MOVIE, and ALL THE LIVE BLACK PEOPLE call themselves the N word CONSTANTLY.... and that's okay... right?

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You're upset because you want to use black slurs. Admit it!

You should change your headline to: "Why Aren't White Racists Allowed to Say the N-Word like in the Good Old Days of Jim Crow and Slavery?"

BTW, none of the Black shows/movies I watch use that term. That's likely a delusional fantasy of yours along with your desire to be in the land of Dixie.

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you are wrong about me in every way possible. I never use slurs, or even like hearing slurs in movies etc. but you can paint me however you wish in your own mind. just know you are wrong.

I'm talking specifically about offensive language..... so n****r is OFENSIVE when whites use it, but when blacks use it, it is loving, supportive, the opposite of negative, right?
Do you not see how that is insane? Words shouldn't be racially mutually exclusive that is fucking insane.

If I say fuck or cunt everyone finds it offensive. Not some specific color. How about instead of whites not saying N word, how about if NOBODY says N word?

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You're now contradicting your original comment which was a complaint about people being offended by words. Your later comments have me convinced your topic is really about the how you believe black people shouldn't be offended when called the n-word.

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And you are still wrong yet again. Reread my original post.
Then read lower where someone else brought up the n word. I was just jumping in to that part of this discussion.
Feel free to keep making wrong assumptions if it makes you feel good. It doesn't bother me at all. But your assumptions are completely incorrect and wasteful, so I won't keeping this tangent going any more.

My original topic was only about exactly what it says. If you want to read into it, that's your online right, silly as that is.

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damn right that is ok .
no it is not racism that white people cant say it .

Again , if you cant see why , that is the more fundametal issue

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there is no issue at all. NO ONE should use offensive language. No one. Not specific colors or races.

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yes,
but when black people use it -its not offensive,
when you use it- it is,

So the "NO ONE should use offensive language" rule is being observed

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Yet to me, Black people using the word is offensive TO ME, but I'm a white guy so no one gives a shit about that. I'm dog shit plague on the world, so I don't matter.

I understand.

At least that is not racist. :D

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in what context would it be used to be offensive to you ?

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exactly the same as when someone says cunt or your moms a whore, or whatever words I personally deem offensive. Even the dictionary defines them as offensive. It's not just me, more of a global known and defined thing. I find the n word offensive as a white guy since it WAS used (no longer is) as a degroatory remark at black people. when I hear black people call each other that, it offends me. I KNOW they do not mean "my loving dark skinned bretheren" in a positive light when it is used. it is used, sometimes even comically, as a negative - repressing themselves. and you are welcome to spin that however you like but it is true.

This is similar to how women call each other a bitch. Everyone knows calling a woman a bitch means deragatory, in that she is cranky and hard to please or get along with. EVERONE knows this. It used to be, well, still actually is, BAD to be called a bitch, yet women have adopted (empowered??) it and call each other their bitch "for fun" or "in light" yet it still retains its negative definition. This is neither good, nor healthy.

Lets observe actual definitions of words: [copied strait from the sources]

Bitch
2a informal + often OFFENSIVE : a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman
b informal + OFFENSIVE — used as a generalized term of abuse and disparagement for a woman

nig·ger
/ˈniɡər/
noun OFFENSIVE
a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person.

These are offensive words, and should never be used by anyone. Or ANY race. I'm simply following the text book definitions, as defined by society, per their proper position in language.

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The original reason for SOME black people using it was to remove the sting or offensiveness because whites were using it as a weapon against them. I don't believe that strategy worked since it's still an offensive word and encouraged its use in music and comedy and around the world. I know Hispanics who grew up with black people and speak black English and use the term similar to how blacks use it. I had to repeatedly tell a Hispanic worker to stop saying it.

I agree it's offensive no matter who says it.

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i actually enjoy the fact that we can discuss/argue opposite sides, yet still SOMETIMES agree on somethings. :)

never take me personally.

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Same here.

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The bottom line is it don't matter if you white, black, brown whatever if you was beer bonging Steel Reserve and Ole E High Gravity and smoking blunts with the crew back in the day you all got to say it. You newbies are a bunch of sticklers, im more black than any of you privileged boys could ever be.

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I had to read your post 3x and use google to understand what you wrote.

Privilege and black are not mutually exclusive.

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Well you were frightened by Hispanics saying the N word so i don't expect you to have beer bonged Steel Reserve.

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"Why aren't people's fragile psyche built to withstand harmless words?"

But, your original comment is saying words are not offensive and people are being fragile to be offended.

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nice try. try to keep up:

offensive words exist, but you don't have to allow yourself to be HURT by things people say.

CRACKER used to be an offensive word for white people.

Cracker:
5a offensive —used as an insulting and contemptuous term for a poor, white, usually Southern person
b sometimes offensive : a native or resident of Florida or Georgia —used as a nickname

go ahead and call me cracker all you want. it won't HURT me. WORDS never hurt me. But I grew up with sticks and stones. :) Maybe if more did, we wouldn't be this pusillanimous, triggered, crying, meltdown generation we read about every day. :)

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and yet you're offended when black guys use the N word , even though they arnt even talking to you?

sounds like you have a "triggered, crying, meltdown"

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You notice his contradiction, too?

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im just here to prompt interesting discussion. :)

im not having a meltdown, I'm calling it out as it is: NO ONE should be saying it

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How about cracker and other offensive terms?

I once told someone they shouldn't say pollack, but the reply was their spouse used it all the time and was Polish. Other groups do the same thing. Some gays say the f- term.

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why does anyone need to keep propagating offensive terms?
isn't that what Political Correctness, and Social Justice Warrioring tries to fix, and yet will forever never be successful at it?

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Self-hatred. Marginalized people in a society often learn to hate themselves.

There are ways to effectively end bigotry, but certain people with money and power use bigotry and divisiveness for their own gain. Ex. I make you fear a group then ask for money to fight them. Or use discrimination to eliminate some competition.

Those terms are only symptoms.

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well stated!

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Thanks.

Much more civility outside of the Politics Board.

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