How Do You Explain to a Fully Grown Adult That Constantly Mocking Others' Appearance (Even on TV) is Toxic Behavior?
How Do You Explain to a Fully Grown Adult That Constantly Mocking Others' Appearance (Even on TV) is Toxic Behavior?
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Anecdotal:
I found the most effective way is not to explain it all at one time, but to make off the cuff remarks that clearly show you disagree with what they said without making it sound like you're attacking them because they'll stop internalizing anything you say instantly that way.
I knew someone that often made homophobic comments, and I always made a point to casually reply "nah, it never really bothered me", or "sure, but it doesn't affect your life at all" and shrug.
For a long time they said something like "yuck, It's just gross" or " I don't like it", but I never pursued the topic any more than my disagreeing comments until months later they asked me "okay, seriously how does it not bother you that gay people..."
That's the point where you can bring up logic or expand on what you think.
And again, don't go overboard, but you can expand on the points that it doesn't affect your life how other people choose to love or who other people choose to love, and isn't the world a better place with more love in it?
Simple, concise, irrefutable statements that are easy to digest once someone is asking questions and willing to listen to your answer.
Then you just let them digest that.
Apparently the comment that eventually clicked in their head in my situation was "isn't the world a better place with more love in it?" because we interacted almost daily and they didn't make homophobic comments for a while after the one time we had a longer conversation about gay people(they had been making less homophobic comments around me since I began replying with those casual comments during this whole process, which took months probably), and then one day we went to dinner again and he explicitly told me that that comment had been rattling around in his head and while he still thought it was weird for two dudes to kiss each other, he had come to the conclusion that it was crazy for him to react so strongly because obviously the world is a better place with more love in it and besides it doesn't actually affect his life at all.
And I just said " that's great" or something and left it at that.
So now anytime I hear someone say something -ist, I casually but directly disagree and then let it go until the next time or unless they ask what I mean.
Anyone I've tried to talk to in any extended manner without them expressing curiosity first pulls their limbs and head into a shell and works on developing whatever prejudice they have to make it more foolproof and less prone to examination.
2nd:
It doesn't always take months, I mett one guy walking his dog sitting at a park bench once who had similar prejudices and I did the exact same thing, a casual comment and he wanted to enter into a deeper conversation right away that it later became clear, had led him to critically examining his ideas.
But patience is key for sure with this method.
Thank you for the excellent response!
The problem seems to be a mental disconnect they just cant overcome.
Immediately after criticizing some racist news story (so not all bad!) they then mocked the reporter or news reader for their appearance.
I pointed out the hypocrisy of that being just the same as how racism starts. I don't think it sunk in in any meaningful way though.
It's an incremental effort that does not always pay off, but anything bigger, more sudden and especially anything hostile, always fails.
I feel like on some level the bigot knows that all they're doing is being a bully, but it's so much easier and comforting to be a bully than to be honest with themselves or examine themselves that they've never exercised that muscle.
So anything more than incremental support for a bully to be more tolerant is interpreted as an attack and then they're like okay so I have to change this so my perspective/sense-of-self can never be contradicted again.
I guess that's it, that the goal is not to encourage them to be a different person, but rather to encourage them to be part of something new or unfamiliar: tolerance.
Yeah for someone to change their whole viewpoint takes time.
Imagine if someone was gonna try to argue that your opinion on a recent conflict is wrong. Obv if it's that confronting you're gone disregard that. But if he says something about it every once in a while you start to think more about and then you learn and grow. Because either you come to the conclusion your standpoint is really short sighted, or you at least appreciate their perspective.
And let me be clear: whatever you learn, it will be a good thing, because the more perspective, the more experience.
I have a friend who votes for trump and we clash heads a lot about politics, but I know I will learn so much about his viewpoint it is worth it to a certain degree, and I'm not gonna try to "convince" him, because I want him to critically think about his opinions and learn what he needs to from my perspective.
If you wanna fight racism for example, be a living example about how stupid it is and how nice it feels to know you can judge people by what they do and not what they look like. Don't talk about, just be clear whenever the topic comes up.
While I do completely agree with all your points, I don't see what I can learn from mocking someones 'wonky lip' or 'saggy eye lids' for example.
And for context, this isn't a new issue, it's been brought up a good few times over the last year or so.
Pointing out hypocrisy rarely changes the person's mind. They consider it a personal attack and categorize you as an opponent. I'm not saying what you should or shouldn't say, but rather to help you predict likely responses.
Also, people learn discrimination growing up. It takes time to unlearn, and many people never do. You won't always succeed, but at the same time, often your words and actions are felt my multiple people simultaneously.
Anything I’ve tried to talk to in any extended manner without them expressing curiosity for first pulls their limbs and head into a shell and works on developing whatever prejudice they have to make it more foolproof and less prone to examination.
All of what you said was insightful, but that takes all the cake.
i appreciate it, and have fixed the silly autocorrect mistakes I hadn't noticed.
Thanks for posting this, it's truly helpful. I'm trying similar methods with a few friends who have lots of wonderful qualities but also some weird bigotries. The hardest thing is controlling my anger - their views have real, damaging consequences for people who have done them no harm, whom they have never even met. But you're right, an angry reproach feels like an attack and can have the opposite effect.
thanks, thats good to hear.
i tried a lot of things for a lot of years and the only thing I've ever seen actually change someone's mind or behavior is a concise, unambiguous statement of one's own conflicting positive perspective and then leaving it alone until the bigot grows curious enough that you're not tacitly agreeing with their prejudice that they feel compelled to examine the issue.
after several instances, I'll get a pause and then: "but really, women are..., right?" or "but black culture is..., right" and then its "no, i dont think so", "not any more than..." or the like.
Not tacitly agreeing with prejudice makes it a lot harder to make and keep friends with literally everyone these days, but at least I don't have to say "yeah, i guess so..." and feel kind of shitty to be agreeing with something I don't believe just to stay in a friend circle.
You need to ditch those people.