Essay:Sensitivity

Throughout the last few years, a noticeable amount of people have been talking sensitivity. Claims that "SJWs are renaming everything" and people throwing around quotes on political correctness being a form of tyranny are more rampant than ever. In this essay, we will make a small skip through the recent changes in our society that have brought up this argument that only America would get into debate and further our understanding of not just the discussion in itself, but also its effects. Note that this is on sensitivity and not Amendment Numero Uno. Company names, trademarks, logos, etc. are separate from the Constitution, as they are private companies.

Sensitivity is, essentially, the likelihood of one to be emotionally affected by something, usually in a negative way, such as triggering reactions of sadness, fear, or anger. Most of the sensitivity talk being thrown around refers to that of the latter type. Not an attacking anger, the "fuck you" kind, but rather an offended and concerned anger, the "what the hell are you doing, you know better" kind.

What's been triggering occurrences of this sensitivity?

In recent years, our education system has been putting emphasis on the animosities that have been done to minorities, natives, etc., and outside of school, more and more efforts are being made to aid these marginalized populations. It's always been happening, but with more technology and tools at our hands, alongside more and more people realizing their potential, a growing number of people and even celebrities and companies are putting themselves at the forefront of this movement to spread awareness of this history and fight against other forms of discrimination, such as sexual harassment or police brutality. Armed with a good bit of this new knowledge, some people may point out a historically offensive thing in the company logo or motto, maybe an old video from the sixties with blackface. At this moment, the company in question will apologize, as their views have changed over the years.

Now picture this. We've got Kyle (of course) here, a white (and let's say he's freckled too because why not), 17-y/o male who's quite the nerd, and could give a good 30-minute spiel on the history of Newgrounds or how anime has been targeted in the media. We'll say that Kyle here goes to a pretty normal school in racial demographic terms. Socially, however, Kyle isn't the best out there. He's had three rejections in the past, and quite unfortunately, no 17 year old in 2020 know Newgrounds or wants to know shit about it. Most of his fellow classmates are into the popular stuff, the newest rap album or whatever that one random youtuber has been posting. Maybe a thing or two about Stranger Things, and every now and then, a talk about the new social movement. Kyle's English class, meanwhile, is discussing feminist analyses of text. Kyle, having been though those rejections, is rather disgruntled. Haven't we already established gender equality? There isn't a group of evil men trying to undermine women. Why the hell are you guys overthinking this? These are the thoughts going through Kyle's head at this time. Instead of making at least some effort to try and go out there and research or understand, Kyle's pretty annoyed at the general populace. In the past, he felt rather annoyed at the #MeToo movement. Seriously? Are we still on the issue of gender equality? C'mon, Susan B. Anthony solved that a long time ago. And you're using FUCKING HASHTAGS in the name? How cringy are you? As such, Kyle had decided that he was sick of these "normies". I mean, all they do is watch the latest movies, the newest rap, they're all brainwashed and have no appreciation for older culture. I work hard and suffer, I know good work ethic! I'm better!

Now what Kyle's going through does happen to people at times. What may happen to Kyle is that he may end up on some youtube video from Ben Shapiro and be amazed by his mega-edginess, or get washed up on some gaming forum where he'll meet others like him who feel just as agitated. Eventually, this exchange of messages may cause an "echo chamber", where negative thoughts are tossed back and forth to create even more negative thoughts. Basically an anger farm. During these chats, deeper and deeper far-right ideas may be gradually introduced, possibly going as far as QAnon or even the Jewish Conspiracy.

This fear, combined with an ever-growing "machismo movement" that views people as either "strong" or "weak", usually according to their political ideology, has created a toxic tribalism that has erected a barrier between our ability to understand one another. But in fact, there's nothing wrong with being sensitive at times.

Sensitivity is, in essence, one of the things that makes us human. Just the same as anger, joy, and sexual pleasure ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), sensitivity is one of the common expressions we feel on an almost day-to-day basis. And there's nothing wrong with feeling sad or confused sometimes!

Now, let's take things from a more pragmatic standpoint. If SMISV really was doing it just to get into the movement to make a quick buck or two, well, this actually would be helpful still-- considering that Marvel does not do anything hypocritical, the movie can serve as a great way at informing audiences and work as a means of promoting a message. That being said, however, gather around and listen to the tale of the Bionicle Blizzard and Ng Wai Chung.

Once upon a time, there was an E-Sports player named Ng Wai Chung. He supported the actions of Hong Kong in a livestream once. So Blizzard banned Ng from all of their games because China is very, extraordinarily, extremely important to their economy and making Big China mad is a Big No-No. And people were very angry. But Big China was happy so Blizzard was chill cool happy too. The End.

So what happens when George Floyd was killed? Like many other companies, Blizzard was to make their official statement supporting BLM (once again, floating into the pragmatism realm here-- as obligatory as they may seem, these statements help spread the BLM message, but it doesn't work in Blizz's case, because...). But remember how they banned that Ng guy? Yeah, that. Well, that came back up, and the hypocrisy made their entire BLM message pretty much obsolete! So in the metacognitive realm here, it's essential that in order to both be taken seriously and be careful in their renaming in order to not throw more voters towards the conservative side. At the same time, education on the history of the reasons for renaming and emotional support towards those we know that may be scared or confused by all that is going on is just as important, for the same cause.