Sarcasmo's developing theory declaring the damaging potential of words to be null. He thinks that it is pretty much a given fact that words, especially words from other humans online, have never physically hurt anyone. It is physically impossible. So, he thinks that the idea of producing a physical response to a verbal stimulus is improper.

This is especially true online, where you can't hear the inflections or see the person's face. The only time anyone should take anything seen online that isn't news or extremely personal email that seriously is never. Like moJoe says, you can't make assumptions based on that.

In other words, when Sarcasmo calls you a whore, don't hit him, because it's all out of love. Instead, try to come up with something better to call him, or ignore it and continue with what you were saying. Fucko.

Words are what your mind is built of. You are a collections of thoughts and beliefs, expressed and communicated by words. You are affected by other's words and beliefs.

Words can change you more than physical pain. For those of us with 'normal' lives, words play a much larger part in building our beliefs than does physical pain. The potential of words is what gives us everything that lower animals are not. This includes much power to hurt.

Perhaps the greatest way that words can hurt you is by cutting you off from people whose words you don't like. If you ignore them, you lose touch with an enormous percentage of the population. Or if you hate them, instead, you live with a negative emotion. Or maybe they change you, or the way that you think, often in negative ways.

Believing that is everyone's responsibility to be able to handle any words thrown at them is, at best, toxic. Watch your language, it matters.


It's only words
And words are all I have
To take your heart away.
-The Beegees

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