Is there such a thing as oversensitivity when it comes to mental illness? A lot of people refer to 2015 as the year that the world was offended by everything. Is mental illness a part of that?
In today's society, people make light of mental illness by making jokes and misusing terms that pertain to it. For example, people often tweet "KMS" or, "killing myself" as a joke when something doesn't go their way. Even large corporations plan a role in this. Target sold a shirt that said OCD in huge letters and then under it "Obsessive Christmas Disorder". Urban Outfitters, a store that I get a lot of my clothes from, is constantly under fire for their controversial designs. These designs include a crop top with the word "depression" printed all over it in different sizes, a Kent State University sweatshirt that has blood splatters all over it, and a t-shirt that says "eat less" in pretty cursive letters. Celebrities, or in this case "politicians", often help add to the stigma of mental illness. For example, Donald Trump released a statement saying that he believed the reason for gun violence stems from the mental ill, or "sickos" as he refers to them, targeting areas with loose gun laws (yet another reason to not like him.)
While working on my project, I've become more aware of the way mental illness is portrayed in the media and throughout my school and workplace. In a way, I think I've become even more sensitive to certain terms people use to describe mental illness and the overuse of illnesses, mainly OCD and depression. Some people might think of this as a bad thing, but I don't. I think the world would be a much better place if people acted with more compassion and took the time to think about what they say before they say it, or design it.
Target t-shirt:
Urban Outfitters:
I definitely agree that Target and Urban Outfitters should be more considerate before they produce something like that. It is designed to be comedic, but it can easily be offensive to people who are diagnosed with that disorder. If everyone was more compassionate, we wouldn't have to make jokes like these to make people laugh. Why do we have to make jokes at the expense of other people?
ReplyDeleteTaylor, first, you and Anika did an absolutely amazing job last week at our Davidson LifeLine meeting. You were articulate, thorough, poised, and professional.
ReplyDeleteI'm on my way to a meeting in a minute so this will be short. I think you're absolutely onto something when it comes to how we use language. What if no one EVER used words like, "I'm going to kill myself", "I'm so OCD", "My mom is so manic today" unless it were true. We could truly help then, right, because we wouldn't have to discern truth.
I'm going to send you a cool infographic you might like about language.
Thank you for your incredibly important work.
Mrs H