Why has it become so trendy to hate on/otherwise exploit other people?
@AJ1952Chats (2332)
Anderson, Indiana
December 8, 2010 7:19am CST
I'm looking for views on why we have gotten into a climate where it's become trendy to hate on other people--sometimes, people that we don't even know--in such a way that it will even become a mob mentality?
One well-known example of this is Nadya Suleman (a.k.a. Octomom), but there are others going on all of the time.
Some kids get cyber-bullied so much that they even commit suicide--not to mention getting bullied in the more traditional way.
Take one or two "leaders" to get things rolling, and a young person at school who is labeled as (citing a few of many examples) too fat, too studious, gay (or thought to be), not wearing the most "in" clothes, etc. might suffer from everything from wide-scale shunning to actual physical abuse.
We even get "entertained" by watching "reality" shows and talk shows where children and teens are sent to boot-camps to get straightened out (description: getting yelled at until they cry and exerting themselves physically to the point where it's not healthy for them). Some of these kids have committed crimes and/or used drugs, but there are even some who are punished in this matter for things like not doing their homework.
Meanwhile, we, the hungry-for-exciting-entertainment viewing audience, are glued to our TVs watching this abuse go on.
On at least one talk show, overweight tots and preschoolers are marched onto the stage wearing nothing but diapers with their copious rolls of fat exposed for all the world to see.
Meanwhile, the Roman arena audience is heartily booing them and their parents.
Even if they got that fat from eating ten Big Macs per day, they don't deserve this kind of negative attention--but kids who are so abnormally-fat likely have some kind of condition that has little or nothing to do with how much food they eat. They would practically have to starve themselves in order to lose their fat. Even those who seem to be eating a lot actually need to eat more than rabbit food in order to maintain their health. They need medical attention instead of public ridicule.
Of course, this kind of "entertainment" seems to be what brings in the ratings, so there seems to be no way of putting a stop to it beyond not watching it.
Anyway, I have some ideas of my own re: why this kind of cruelty-steeped sheep mindset is becoming so commonplace, but I would be interested in hearing your thoughts as well.
1 response
@megamatt (14291)
• United States
8 Dec 10
It is really petty people, who are making themselves look big and important by putting other people around. It just makes you wonder what insecurities that they have. Really, there has to be some deep rooted insecurities right there, because of someone. The louder the taunting, the more I wonder about these people. I stopped really listening to people and what they thought of me. I don't get any money if they think highly of me. I don't win any awards. Their opinion is less than meaningless to me.
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2332)
• Anderson, Indiana
8 Dec 10
You have THAT right!
The need to put other people down in a holier-than-thou sort of way is usually inspired by insecurity.
Some people think that they have to be better than others in order to have any sort of self-esteem, so they do what they can to make others look bad in order to rise to the top--only (NEWSFLASH!) it doesn't work. At least, it doesn't work in the long-run.
I remember reading the story about a little girl named Winifred when I was a kid. She was called Winnie for short and came from the poor side of the tracks.
There was another little girl in the story (I can't remember her name, so I'll just call her Princess.) who came from a well-to-do family.
Both of them attended the same school, and Princess wore the latest fashions and was a kind of trendsetter.
Winnie, on the other hand, wore hand-me-downs that had gotten a little ragged around the edges.
One day, Winnie came to school wearing a beautiful, green coat with cool-looking fasteners, and everybody flocked around her telling her how lovely she looked--that is, everybody except Princess.
Their teacher observed how Princess had her face set into a pout because somebody else was stealing the show from her.
However, Princess didn't remain silent and pouting for long. Instead, she smirked and made a comment about how Winnie's coat must have been a hand-me-down from a boy because it fastened like a boy's coat would.
Her classmates turned to listen to her--and, because she had been such a trendsetter in the past, they believed her.
Soon, she got them engaged in a taunting chant that they turned on Winnie, calling her "Greenie Wienie" over and over again, until she stuffed her coat into her locker and spent the rest of the day with her head hanging down. Much of the time, she was crying quietly at her desk.
When school ended for the day, she started to leave and left her coat behind. That's when the teacher intercepted and told her that her coat was beautiful and that Princess was probably jealous that she didn't have one just like it.
This was the weekend, so there wouldn't be school again until Monday. Winnie returned to school wearing her new coat--and Princess showed up in a new coat, too. It was a pink coat.
"My what a pretty coat you're wearing!" the teacher exclaimed. "Except for the color, it reminds me a lot of Winnie's coat. In fact, other than the color, it's EXACTLY like Winnie's coat--right down to the fasteners!"
Princess kinda blushed, hung up her coat, and took her seat.
