Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are doing well! I am doing good! I am starting my MS in Psychology with an emphasis on Coaching at the end of May. I will eventually pursue a Ph.D. after my MS while attending Grandy Canyon University. It has been a long journey to this point, but life is starting to come together for me!

Now, on to the blog post. We live in a digital world rife with information and knowledge. It is amazing. Invigorating. Freeing. However, it is also becoming a place where society is starting to over-label things and use psychology in bad faith for whatever ends they may need with no integrity for whether it is correct. Society is starting to use “trigger words” and “trigger terms” to place an emotional brand on individuals they do not like or agree with in hopes of portraying said individuals as intolerant, mean, or even to ruin lives. It is sad, disingenuous, and reductive. There are many examples that I could talk about, but I want to list only a few for the sake of brevity;

Stating someone is “toxic”, calling someone “___________phobic”, and fearmongering. These are just the examples that come to my immediate thoughts, though I am sure if I sat down and listed all the ones I have encountered, I could have quite the list.

The term “toxic” is so overly misused that it has now become as common as “happy”. Though the actual term is relative to behavior over time, society has adopted it as a quick trigger word to “scarlet letter” an individual. Can someone exhibit “toxic behavior”? Sure, but someone is not “toxic” after one fight, one misunderstanding, or one disagreement. They are also not toxic just because you want to label them as such. A true “toxic person” often manipulates an individual to get what they want, deflects, or misidentifies blame, causes confusions by having unpredictable negative behavior/emotions (whether due to mental illness or not), is controlling, does not accept/respect boundaries, and can be abusive (mentally, emotionally, psychologically, or physically). Toxic people can also potentially abuse substances (WebMD, 2020). While I understand that language is fluid and can/does adopt to the social normative, purposely misusing words or terms can have a negative affect on the meaning and utility; which is the case for the word “toxic”.

Next, this incessant use of the word phobic being attached to something/anything. Dictionary.com (2022), under medical definitions, states that phobia is, “a persistent, abnormal, or irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid the feared stimulus.” Phobias are also anxiety disorders. Therefor, someone is not “____________phobic” because they simply do not share the same values/beliefs as another individual. For instance, if someone does not accept that an individual who was born as one biological sex and wants to identify as the opposite sex and be recognized as such, that does not make the individual “transphobic.” The term “phobic” has been hijacked for no other purpose than to incite dramatization and animus towards opposing beliefs/views. It is intellectually disingenuous and a lazy tactic.

Lastly, fearmongering. Welcome to the world of fear-porn and oh my, how it sells! Our culture/society is sickened with the poison of fearmongering. Sensationalism sells. Fearmongering has an obvious path, starting with media outlets who disseminate the fear, followed by individuals who are in places of repute or power dividing up the fear amongst their followers/constituents, where it is then devoured by those who are too naïve or blatantly blinded by their own ideologies/feelings to think critically. A perfect case of this is the war between Russia/Ukraine. Without even trying to explain the nuance of the situation or, at the very list, reveal the machinations of what is really happening, the media outlets, politicians, and leaders started peddling the narrative of “Russia is a bully and poor Ukraine is the victim.” However, what you will not hear is WHY Russia is doing what they are doing (and for the sake of posterity, I do not see any side as being good and all sides are bad). Russia and Ukraine share a border. NATO extended an offer to Ukraine to join NATO. If Ukraine joins NATO, soldiers from other NATO nations can be posted on Ukraine’s border if so desired, including NATO allied troops. Russia has stated many times that if Ukraine joins NATO, due to NATO allied troops potentially being allowed to patrol Ukraine’s borders, Russia will see this as an act of aggression. Russia wants to demilitarize Ukraine so that Russia does not feel militaristically/politically threatened by Ukraine joining NATO (BBC, 2022). NATO is a militaristic organization (this can be found in NATO’s charters). Russia also sees NATO as aggressors. YET, the media would have you fearmongered into believing that Russia is just this big, bad, meanie who is just bullying because Putin is a dictator (and perhaps he is). The point of the example is that being fed fear-porn keeps the masses emotionally stunted, and thereby, controllable. Thus, the intent of the fearmongering has been achieved. Now, imagine if Canada and the USA were fighting and Mexico had been neutral to this point. Canada is part of NATO and NATO looks to Mexico and asks if Mexico wants to join the organization for aid and militaristic benefits and Mexico says, “sure.” By joining NATO, Mexico is now EXPECTED to support Canada and NATO by whatever means NATO/Canada ask for. How do you think the USA would feel about that?

I will end this rant/tangent by saying that this should be the age of enlightenment for humankind due to the glut of information and knowledge that is out there and that is FREE, yet we are too ignorant to think for ourselves, too absorbed in social media to transcend our infantile thought-cages, and too lazy to care. We have the ability to nullify the distorted reality and see the World for what it is… WAKE UP. Stop dream-walking and OPEN your EYES!

References
♦BBC. 2022. Why has Russia invaded Ukraine and what does Putin want? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56720589
♦Dictionary.com. 2022. phobia. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/phobia
♦WebMD. 2020. Signs of a Toxic Person. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-toxic-person