Making fun of a person’s skin color, height, facial features, weight, and hair, among many others, has become very normal in our society these days. In fact, to make humors as such mainstream, we have gone a step further to give it many honorary names and titles—some even include it in dark comedy.
Not realizing the kind of damage this type of humor is having on others’ lives, a vast majority of us think that it’s okay to crack those jokes as long as others are laughing. On top of that, what’s more surprising is to see some of the most matured and shrewd people I have seen in my life doing this to others. That too, without even a pinch of guilt.
Not only in my life, even you would have seen many such people pulling others’ legs with those humors. People like them are almost everywhere—people that talk about the ins and outs of life’s purpose, that seem to have understood the anatomy of relationships, that are so charming and respectful, and of many other kinds. But, still manage to indulge in such activities.
I often wonder how come they don’t understand some of the most basic mannerisms—if these are some of the only teeny-tiny things that make us civilized beings. And most of all, they don’t seem to realize its aftermath in a person’s life.
When someone is made fun of their appearance, race, or an inability, for example—which they don’t have any control over, it kind of gets deep inside them. Those words will keep nagging them and handicap any productive action they wish to take in their lives. In other words, it affects their self-confidence throughout their lifetime. Doesn’t matter how many self-help books they read or life mastery courses they take up, those words just stay in them.
Take yourself, for instance; there must be an incident in your life, when somebody made a humorous remark about your dress, hairstyle, weight, or color, and to this very day those words flash in your mind whenever you do your hair or look at yourself in the mirror. It might be just a flickering thought in your mind, but anyways, it affects your self-confidence.
So, if remarks like these can affect a person’s life to this extent, I still don’t understand how come many people overlook it?
I mean, what’s the use in talking about tons and tons of philosophies if u don’t know to follow basic etiquette?
But we aren’t the only ones to be blamed for. Movies, TV shows and other entertainment media have all played a critical role in disseminating this message to the people. We have enough people for inspiration from movies and TV shows to start making fun of others’ appearances.
“Oh, come on! Our favorite actors do it. Even star singers Tiktok it.
What’s the big deal?
It’s meant for a light-hearted thingyy-ishh purpose.”
We teach our kids to not make fun of people by their appearances, social status or race. But what’s the point in teaching them all these if you are watching those kinds of shows on tv and laughing?
Aren’t you being a hypocrite?
And the worst part is, your child is watching all these content on tv along with you.
Without any doubt, children are going to exercise those inequalities with their friends at school, and the hatred just keeps multiplying like chain reaction.
How do you think the child would grow up to be as an adult, after being exposed to toxic content like these for years and years?
No wonder, why discrimination, and hatred is deeply rooted in our society. Even after thousands and thousands of men and women fighting for centuries, we couldn’t create a world that is equal for all; a world that is free of colorism, racism, casteism, favoritism and many other inequalities.
Needless to say, since a child’s character development and the formation of values happen at an early age, no matter how hard he tries at later stages in life, he won’t be able to completely get rid of those deeply ingrained thoughts.
A part of it, lives in him forever.
He might even take part in or lead anti-racist or other social inequalities protests, but still would be having those thoughts somewhere in the corner.
So, that’s how you as a parent, brother, sister, teacher or uncle is fueling hatred in the world.
By that I don’t mean that you should never watch any movies or series or completely boycott them. What I mean to say is to be picky in terms of choosing what to watch so that it wouldn’t affect you and the children watching with you.
However, I absolutely get the logic that it isn’t possible for us to monitor the children every time. Yet, I believe, it is possible for us to educate them on what is right and what is not, and ask them to avoid watching anything that involves hatred or toxic humor.
To do that, it is imperative that we first become aware of the toxicities and exercise the rationale to differentiate between what is entertainment and what is actually hatred, but disguised as entertainment.
Moreover, it would be great if directors and content creators on the internet refrain from creating toxic humors in their movies and posts. They should have a sense of awareness as to how those humors could poison the minds of the people watching it. And therefore, the kind of serious consequences it could have in our society.
(Some creators keep creating toxic humors despite knowing its consequences. That’s secondary.)
Not only the creators, we as audience, contribute to the creation of such content too. Why in the world would someone create a content if he knows nobody would watch it? It’s because we seem to enjoy toxic humors that creators take it as an encouragement to continue creating.
If we become mindful of what we choose to watch, the demand for it falls, and ultimately, they wouldn’t create such content anymore.
The logic is as simple as that.
Just like how each one of us is held responsible for global warming and climate change, I believe, we all are responsible for war and terrorism in the world. How? Let me help you with its clarity.
Hatred, like any other energy in the world, needs to be fed to grow bigger. When I mean hatred, I don’t directly mean the war threat between countries; we will get to that part later. Hatred can be anything as simple as abusing comments you post on the internet, toxic memes, or posting anything that hurts or abuses any particular person or community, and much more.
When you keep feeding the world with nibbles of hatred like these on a daily basis, over time it grows into this monstrous structure and manifests as natural calamities and artificial disasters. And, also in the form of conflicts like war and terrorism.
In simple words, you are feeding the negative energy and letting it overpower the goodness in the world.
(What a great job! We all should pat ourselves on the back.)
So, the next time when a child dies in a bomb blast in Syria, maybe you have played a part in it too—doesn’t matter if the part is small or big.
And, that’s how my friend, your behavior influences the world.
Don’t consume, exercise and entertain toxic humors.