Many years ago, I was a student teacher in a rural middle school in the Midwest. It was a history class, and time to teach about the Holocaust. The kids took it seriously, of course, but I was really struck by their reactions when I started talking about the victims of the Holocaust. As I was going down the list of groups the Nazis targeted, the kids reacted seriously but not emotionally for most of the list. After all, in their area, they were very unlikely to personally know a Jewish person, or Roma, or an out gay person (again, years ago), etc. Then we got to disabled people and the kids were SHOCKED. Suddenly the cruelty of the Nazis was so much more real to them, because they knew people who would have been rounded up. There were kids at the school who would have been rounded up. They were in complete disbelief.
So, you know, you can live in a society where people are shocked by the cruelty of others, or you could teach your kids to hate and fear people who are different than themselves. No matter how many times I see it, I can never stop being surprised that people choose the latter, and think that it's good and funny to reinforce that with their kids.
Yeah, I'm sure that's true, unfortunately. The power of social pressure was on my side that day, I suppose. The vibe was strongly shocked disbelief and horror, so any little chuds who thought it was funny definitely kept that to themselves.
All the examples in the article are female and I'm not at all surprised. If you are an ugly woman, if you are noticeably overweight, it is open season for you. People don't treat you like a human being anymore because I guess it's so ingrained in us that without sexual value, women are worthless. I am attractive now (and boy does that suck too, for different reasons), but I've read a lot from older women who experience this transition to being invisible and disposable once they are no longer beautiful. And I notice myself how I am treated with vs. without makeup. Society shames us relentlessly for improving our appearance and especially for staving off natural aging, but it makes total sense why women invest in it when they know all too well that their only value is their looks.
and maybe being short hurts your chances of a relationship, but it does not affect at all professionally, or how people see you, etc.
It definitely does affect you professionally. But being a short man is way less of a sentence than being an “ugly” woman
yeah, so we agree. being short is not comparable, even if "incels" try to treat them equal.
Idk. I feel like I have a unique perspective. I have been both. I was an ugly “woman” before I transitioned, and I am now a 5ft tall man. I am not an incel, but I would say that the mockery and disrespect is comparable. But as you said, not entirely equal at all, definitely less as a man
hmm maybe I'm biased from my experiences, and the short (professionally) successful people I know. Maybe they are comparable.
Maybe we shouldn't be comparing at all.
Yeah I think you are right, we probably shouldn’t compare.
I don’t think being short has had any great impact on my ability to have sex or a relationship, but then I’m gay, so that might have something to do with it. Yet it definitely hurts me somewhat professionally. People tend to assume I’m younger and for some people my height is a safe thing to make fun of. Still, most days it’s a minor irritation. There’s probably three or four guys at my workplace who are around my height. My boyfriend’s father is my height. Short men are normal.
Yeah I literally had some greybeard client comment to me “oh I thought you were some whiz kid, you look like you’re in junior high” after getting jealous that I did something his old ass had no idea how to do, lol
I’d thought I’d seen it all. But a few weeks ago, I discovered it was happening again on TikTok through something called the New Teacher Challenge. It’s the latest viral trend in which parents show their children photos of disabled people, who they say is their child’s new teacher. The kids' reactions — typically frightened and embarrassed — is filmed, of course. And it’s all done for a laugh.
What am I even reading? This can't be real, surely- I refuse to believe it :(
I didn't even know anyone over 17 was on TikTok and it's clearly not doing them any good.
Like the article says, this is terrible for the kids too. When I was 6 my mom and her friends set me up for a laugh. One of them knocked on the door while wearing a scary mask. My mom asked me to answer the door. I was physically horrified (the funny part for all of them) then the most embarrassed I've ever been once they all started laughing. Spent my whole childhood scared with nightmares and still trust no one to this day. DONT FUCK WITH KIDS FOR THE LOLZ.
I hate this shit. I pray their kids learn and leave their parents to die alone and crying 🙏
You seem to be a little upset, I did not say anything out of ordinary.
Also, maybe try to be a little better.
