As Lakoff points out in his essay Hate Speech, some people who are ignorant about hate speech may think it is “just kidding” or “childish horseplay” when it is really a “proclamation of inferiority” as the author states. If a person has been subjected to particular comments throughout their life and even their relatives before them, when they hear these comments it is very personal for them. If you don’t have a history of having to deal with this type of speech then you “just don’t get it” when it comes to how destructive it can be over time.
When someone hears something often enough, they know that there is a true belief behind those words and it’s not “just kidding”. When you think back to when you were a child, you can start to understand how powerful words can be. If you had parents that praised you or constantly put you down, it affected your self-esteem. Children can be so cruel to other kids when they make fun of others for being too fat, too skinny, wearing glasses, wearing braces, having acne, and the list goes on and on. Those comments can crush a child and make them want to crawl under a rock and hide. The example of the “Sticks and Stones” saying is used and as much as we try to teach our kids not to let the cruel words of others affect them, this is next to impossible. So just imagine if cruel, unfair comments are made about you or made about your family or race or gender, etc. for years then you don’t take it lightly.
As long as the hate speech persists, it is hard to really break away from certain stigmas. Others may adopt the same viewpoint when they hear it so the vicious cycle continues.
It’s so infuriating when people do not understand the destructiveness of words. I am so grateful that I had parents who praised me and brothers to protect me from bullies but despite all that I still know how much hate speech can affect someone. I had several friends that resorted to bulimia because they were teased by so many due to their weight. Although those comments were never made towards me, I could still feel the hate when people would scream it out.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to tell someone that they are being mean with their words. High schools and middle schools have been trying to teach kids about bullying, hate speech, and antisocial behavior, but the fact is that sadly, you cannot force anyone to change for the better. Segregation is obviously the best example of hate speech there is. There were thousands of African Americans suffering from racial hate speech during that time and yet even after schools were desegregated it took time for Caucasians to treat African Americans like their equals. And, what’s worse is that even today this type of hate speech is still around. Like I said it’s so maddening to know that people are so careless with the words they choose to express themselves.