I've been using the internet as a place to escape from my daily life since eighth grade. It was then that I discovered and learned to enjoy fandom. For someone who was picked on and made to feel inferior by the real world, the internet was somewhere safe I could go. I knew I could rely on it.
Nowadays, it's harder and harder to escape your problems online. In fact, you can find them even more easily.
There's apparently a hashtag on Twitter called #killyoself. According to UrbanDictionary.com, it refers to the following:
Now here's the problem - you should never, ever, under any circumstances tell a person to kill themselves. It's offensive. As more and more people in this country struggle with depression and bullying, telling someone to kill themselves, even if you're joking, can have serious ramifications. If someone's recovering from depression or a suicide attempt, how do you think they'd feel if they were told "kill yo'self?" It's extremely jarring. There are some things you just don't say to people.Commonly used to tell someone that the statement they just made is completely insane.
I've had a very hard time over the years. My lack of social ability has often made me wonder about things, and if someone told me to 'kill yo'self' I would be really, really hurt and feel even more left out, regardless of whether they were kidding or not. I'd be questioning whether or not they actually liked me or whether I was actually worth anything. In extreme cases, reading that hashtag might actually be the thing that pushes somebody over the edge and actually leads to their suicide.
It is never, ever, under any circumstances okay to say that to anybody. You never know who you could hurt.
I agree with you! That's not cool. It's important for people to realize the weight of their words, which I think can be a problem online. The internet gives people a sense of anonymity, or something, that sometimes leads them to say or do things that they most likely wouldn't in person. In this case, a tag like that could really be hurtful to another person, and it is offensive. Suicide is a very serious issue (someone attempts it every 40 seconds in the U.S.) that impacts a great number of people. I appreciate how thoughtful you are in bringing this up. It's good to think about these things.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for both reading it and pimping it out! I really appreciate that a lot.
ReplyDeleteI take suicide very seriously, especially since Tyler Clementi went to my high school. It's just not something to joke about and I hate that people do.