There are a lot of stories that tend to be replayed, and one of the most consistent stories is how stoic everyone has been in the face of harm. Even the name the “Silent Generation” is how a generation of people endured through starvation, separation, and the miseries that befell them for years. What if the stoicism is the reason why people are constantly forced to endure harm without their abusers facing consequences? What if the answer to change the world is based on people speaking up about their pain instead of keeping it inside?
People are just now starting to accept that harm without consequences normalizes harm instead of restorative behavior. If everyone continues to say that verbally, physically, or psychologically abusive people are “just that way,” such mindsets are seen as perspectives rather than problematic behavior. In order to change how society functions, there needs to be a limit to terrible behavior, and harm needs to be recognized instead of endured. After all, letting evil run rampant has neither made the world more tolerant nor has it led to a healthy compassion that helps both givers and receivers.
Few people understand that dehumanization is harm, whether subhuman or superhuman. I refuse to spend time describing subhuman behavior because too many people have used that as an excuse to harm. However, expecting people to endure being consistently baited without interference is another form of dehumanization. Human beings are not gods, and there should be a limit to how much harm is enacted without the majority of the population saying, “You know what? How about enough of that?”
The tolerance of harm also stands as recognition that there are no “standard” behavioral norms if some people are expected to endure while others are supposed to appropriately respond. To me, that signifies that we have all come to the end of “manners,” meaning that if double standards are rampant, no standards exist by default. Abusers are still people who live in society, whether they accept that or not, and if they are allowed to exist without retribution, no one should be held to a higher standard. If this is not true, then everyone needs to stop justifying and start coming up with plans for accountability.
Telling everyone to regulate their behavior in the face of harm means giving permission for people to maintain toxic personalities. If people were accustomed to accountability every time they baited someone, they would likely either find another way to sate that urge, or stop entirely. Nobody should be required to keep still while someone flicks fingers in their face or worse, and people who justify that behavior and blame the target a part of the problem.
Chasing A Dying Empire 