Maria Chong

What I'm trying to convey here is words cause emotional reactions and harm. It's a fact. That's why they say language can be violent. Because it causes harm. The platitude about sticks and stones is not reality. There's no reason people must suffer.

I have been subjected to violence and harassed/bullied. Have you? It is not even remotely comparable. I will take harassment over physical assault any day of the week. Words cause emotional reaction. Violence causes deep emotional scars that may never go away.

Why should we take either? Why should we live in a society where repeated, vile, egregious, harmful harassment is normalized. Sure, they are not the same. But you’re not saying mental health is not real, are you? Words can cause harm. Serious harm. This is not conjecture.

I call harassment violence because I (and many people who study violence) believe it’s more than physical injury. However, even if you take out the word “violence,” that doesn’t really mitigate the sewage of abuse, harassment and ugliness that happens on these platforms....

...and that are harming society. Again, the open antisemitism, rape threats, misogyny and racism in this persistent egregious online abuse shouldn’t normalized. And private corporations need to stop PROFITING off their complicity and inaction.

Why? Have you paid attention to the Cancel culture tumor plaguing the society now? Harassment is defined by the target solely. No third party can guess let alone predict what will someone consider an Insult or harassment.

And when being insulted brings negative consequences for the speaker you disagree with, it is in effect Incentivizing being over sensitive for political gain. It gives you a tool to effectively censor your opponents without needing to engage with their ideas.