It’s digital bullying disguised as humor
BY: BRINN SMITH
News Editor
Internet slang and trends are always changing and evolving, with some of the more recent being “lowkenuinly” (combination of low key and genuinely) or “chud,” which is just kind of a blanket insult depending on who is saying it. The term that I have found the most strife with is “ragebaiting,” both for the term itself and also the way that it has been used within modern internet culture.
Ragebaiting is defined by Merriam Webster as “referring to trolling behavior, in which someone says or posts something offensive simply for the enjoyment of eliciting a strong reaction.” This form of provocation seeks to intentionally make people feel like garbage or be upset about something. I most often see it between friends or people part of a larger friend group, though “ragebait posts” are also growing more common. These posts, most of the time, take the form of an unpopular opinion, or sometimes the blatant spreading of misinformation, to provoke people.
One of my issues with this form of banter is the inherent reliance on people getting upset. Speaking from personal experience, when someone I know is “ragebaiting” me, in my brain I don’t view it as a “joke.” To me, I am being made fun of for something: ragabaiting is jokes for others being made at the expense of me and my emotions/emotional state. It being implied that I am inferior somehow due to the things that I like or the way that I word things, or even how I identify, is genuinely upsetting. For me to be framed as the bad person for not “taking the joke” or not getting it is frustrating in a way that goes beyond the words I can put on this page.
Ragebaiting is a topic that will continue to upset me; it inherently relies on other people feeling real emotions, and it takes advantage of them in a very toxic and manipulative way. In a lot of senses, it is bullying, you are taking advantage of someone’s feelings, and using them to harm them even more. Using people as your source of entertainment when they do not consent to it is not a decision made by a good person. The people in your life are entitled to their own lives and it is not your place to make fun of and emotionally torture others.
The social media aspect of ragebaiting is also something that I dislike. The inherent need for clicks leads people that otherwise wouldn’t get attention to gain massive amounts of views for saying hateful or obviously wrong things. Social media has given rise to an attention economy that values your click above all else, and if people can say something outrageous that makes you feel angry or passionate and will make you engage with their post, they will, and then they will make money off of your outrage.
