trying to teach myself to have a thinner skin. I encounter any kind of hateful or hurtful behavior, I want to be like WHOA NOT OKAY, full brakes on the whole situation, remove myself immediately and take some recovery time, maybe text a support person, let myself cry if I need to, then notify any relevant organizational/local leadership that they have an emergency situation they need to deal with.
I see hate speech on the Internet, I am calling the goddamn national news
yes, this is semi-satirical/aspirational because I do not in fact live such a privileged existence that I can do this in every such situation, I mean, for goodness sake (and the news proooobably is not going to run the story of "OUTRAGE Provoked By @joe2034824: Community Leaders Demand Answers." but maybe they would if we hadn't grown so accustomed to tolerating @joe2034823 et al.)
but I want to remember that we should be able to react like this, it should be so aberrant.
the mentality of "sticks and stones, I can take it" is a survival adaptation for when you don't have other options, not an invitation to take pride in how much you allow people to insult you. it's not, like, cool to not care if you get death threats.
and I think for the vast majority of us this is both a difficult unlearning and a difficult negotiation with the aggressions you genuinely have no choice but to endure
but I am trying to do some of that unlearning, to endure what I have to, yes, but not a second more. not to let shit slide when I do have the option to leave or make a stink just because I'm so tough and chill.
(also, the tough-guy mentality often leads to me being kind of a dick to other people who stand up for themselves because if I were in that situation, I'd just sit there and take it so why won't they? this is a known bug in cliff operations and I apologize if you have been affected)
amazing how much society has attached the label "strong" to the behavior of never asking for anything and never objecting to anything. comes up every time labor rights are a discussion. you're putting your livelihoods on the line to pressure your boss for a safer workplace and more livable hours? pathetic. I'm so macho and powerful I have the strength to say "yes sir right away sir" when my boss requests a tongue-cleaning
and I think I used to be a little better at this kind of intentional thin-skinnedness, at least online or in social spaces, but then fucking Twitter (though not only Twitter) retrained me to scroll past Holocaust denial and suicide baiting like "🙄ugh not again🙄"
I would like to unboil my frog
