For years, conversations about healthy relationships, emotional maturity, assault, injustice, and trauma have focused on what the oppressed can do to protect themselves from damage. It’s like living in a house built on a cracked foundation. Instead of fixing the foundation, we tell the people living on the lowest floor, “just don’t step too hard,” “don’t complain about the slant,” and “try to sleep at an angle.” The problem isn’t how they walk, it’s the structure they have been given to live in. The most important part of progress is not that we are fighting, but that we are fighting for peace. Accountability has been lost among my peers, and because of this, minute progress has been made.
Every single day, I observe derogatory phrases being thrown around as jokes. And although we can all agree that a satirical degradation of another person or group can be hilarious, we have to draw the line somewhere. Being raunchy and out of pocket will always get a laugh, but it will not get you a job, and it will not get you through adulthood.
This topic extends to comedy in media. When is it okay to be ignorant? The answer is never, and that’s the reason comedy works. It must always be informed, and it must always be intentional. You should never be genuinely ignorant, because then it’s not a joke. You are just genuinely ignorant. You should always inform yourself on the world around you, always be curious, and always ask yourself if you’re being perceived the way you want to be. Actions do speak louder than words, but words can do equal damage. When it comes to satire, it must actually be satire. Shows like South Park do a great job of making uncomfortable jokes funny, and there’s a clear nuance in their content; they are equally supportive and unsupportive of everyone. No person or group of people is excluded, we have all been the punchline of their jokes. However, when it comes to people, we have to be careful with the things we say. We cannot allow each other to be casually racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist, xenophobic, or any kind of discriminatory to one another.
These conversations are not about blaming each other, they’re about improving as a whole. Everyone wants to be a good person, and when we break through the awkward silence that happens every time there is uninformed usage of a derogatory term, that is how we create a community of good people. It’s not woke to be socially informed, it’s an obligation in a place thats so full of ignorance. I can guarantee that if we all did research behind these words, we would feel a lot worse about using them. Every derogatory word and phrase dates back to the tragic injustice of a person or people being violently oppressed. In order to progress and create a world that is truly safe and enjoyable for everyone, we can no longer allow each other to spread hate. As youth, it is our job to lift each other up and push for a future that we want to live in. It’s okay to make jokes, it’s encouraged! But I encourage you to check your friends and family when they say something ignorant, because that is how we progress.
