Monday, December 12, 2016
Microaggression!
It is very possible we all have encouraged a troll at one point. Many probably did not see this as a wrong thing or even a harmful thing. And often times, it was accepted in our society as something that is just a joke. However, joke or not, some people (not all, but definitely a big amount) take it very seriously. It is something called Microagression. Microagression is when a daily aggression -verbal, in their behavior, or in our everyday environment- is made (intentionally of not) towards minorities, especially people of color. It is often a way to excuse derogatory, and negative racial slurs to people of color. We see this everywhere and it is often passed of as if it were nothing. It is done as a joke, or maybe it truly was curiosity, but even then it does not excuse the fact that it was somewhat racist or offensive. Trolls do this a lot (especially in any social media with pictures.) For example, "You're really pretty!... For a dark skinned girl!", " I don't see you as a black girl!" ( to an asian) "Wow, you suck at math! You are not a good asian!", " So you are Chinese right?" (to someone who does not look anything to their standards of being an American.) " So, like, what are you?", "What are you?!" "So exotic!" and etc., etc. ( Being completely honest, I was pretty grossed out just writing that) We need to bring awareness to this type of comments online and even in our everyday lives. They should not be excused, and definitely not be made a common thing to hear everyday. We need to stop letting these things slip from people because in the end, what they said was racist. Intentionally or not.
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I agree that this kind of behavior needs to stop, but most of the time it's never intentional and that needs to be taken into consideration. The way people are brought up causes these small comments to be made, though that's definitely not an excuse to tolerate them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, most people upon hearing these comments turn a deaf ear. Even me, whenever I hear the never ending "what are you?" questions as if I wasn't born and raised in America. I don't think twice about the question and answer it plainly. What do you suggest should be said when hearing this kind of comment?
I belive there just needs to be awareness. I understand that it can be unintentional, and when it is this type of case (especially if it is a friend or someone you trust) you can kindly inform then that what they said wasn't appropriate and explain why. This way the person can make sure to not make that mistake twice and have a better understanding as to why it was inappropriate. I understand sometimes it is inevitable because of how they were raised, but bringing awareness is priceles and effortless. As long as they understand that what they say can be offensive then it is up to them to try to see how they can fix it. Or if they even want to. However, I belive awareness is the key point to this and it is what I suggest is done.
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