Scorn & Ridicule

[Martin Hash]

Childhood is a traumatic time, especially for vulnerable children. By vulnerable, I mean the child is isolated – has no peer group to protect them. Bullying has always been terrible, much worse for males than females, but girls get enough of it to know that nothing is more frightening than walking to school or going out for recess where the bullies have access to you. Monsters in the closet are nothing compared to the fear-inducing paralysis caused by bullies. Thankfully, bullying is recognized for the evil that it is and society is finally trying to get a handle on it – one down.

That leaves the second most odious, life-altering contagion of children and adults alike – scorn & ridicule. Juvenile scorn & ridicule may leave psychology scars, but in adulthood, scorn & ridicule has become a science of personal destruction. And while adult bullying has judicial penalties in both criminal and civil court, scorn & ridicule is applauded, especially in politics. It has been my experience that those people bullied in childhood are the most vehement purveyors of scorn & ridicule as adults, and because outliers gravitate towards the Democratic Party, scorn & ridicule in our ranks is pervasive. Adding to the problem, due to the often passive-aggressive expression of scorn & ridicule, there is little evidentiary proof for which to punish the behavior.

As a society, we would like to be civil but the major component of incivility is scorn & ridicule. “Critics” are, of course, the worst offenders, and everyone likes to be a critic – inflicting emotional pain on others is a fleeting remedy to despair, and wallowing in self-importance is an ego-booster, plus, there are no judicial or social penalties – only gain. However, if we do somehow criminalize scorn & ridicule like we have bullying, then the only incivility left as a club to beat our fellow human beings will be... Shunning.