ignorethedust:
eridanssassyass:
peterwalteri:
avengestuck:
peterwalteri:
ok no this was not funny
we watched this in my psychology class, and what they did was actually really fuckin cruel. this girl has a genuine phobia of cotton balls. so what do the people on this fucking show do? they bombard her with as many cotton balls as possible without warning.
she ran out of the studio fucking sobbing she was so terrified.
bunch of fuckin dickshits.
its staged
even if it is, it’s still awful. because what does this teach people? it teaches them that if a phobia seems strange to us, then it’s something to laugh and joke about. it teaches people that phobias should be treated as comedy.
whether it’s real or not, it’s still shitty.
actually this really pisses me off. the other day in art class, we were doing a mini-project revolving around bugs. people found out that i have arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and instantly started picking at me, trying to get a reaction. this really put me on edge, and eventually i started yelling about how you dont make fun of someone’s fears. their response? “Yes you do!”
When someone has a phobia, or even just a fear, DO NOT MAKE FUN OF THEM FOR IT. DO NOT TRY TO SCARE THEM. IT IS NOT FUCKING FUNNY, AND COULD SEVERELY HURT THEM.
when i was in junior high- we went to a museum that had a biodome and i am terrified of butterflies
now i never really told anyone about it except a few close friends. we split into groups and one of my friends thought it would be funny to lead me through a path that lead TO A ROOM OPEN FULL OF BUTTERFLIES
you know those rooms where they are flying everywhere? landing on you and surrounding you?
i started screaming and running to the exit- but it was a walk through maze type of thing and i broke down and sat on the floor crying and started having a panic attack
its not funny
NOT FUNNY to do this to people alright
it took a hour for someone to calm me down enough to get me out of the room because i didnt want to move as i would literally be touching a butterfly
when people say ‘wow your fear is silly you should get over it this way’ stop
maybe the fear is silly to you but think of what it would be like if you are the one facing your fear and maybe youll change your mind
‘afraid of heights? oh let me just throw you off this building’
thats exactly the same as making someone face a fear you think is stupid
I usually don’t reblog stuff, but this really hits home for me. Everyone who has a phobia knows exactly how fucking shitty it is for people to find out and then brush it off like it’s no big deal. “I’m not afraid of that, so why are you?” or “That makes no sense, you shouldn’t be afraid of that.” Like if we just tried harder, we wouldn’t be immobilized with terror from something so silly.
It’s not silly. It’s horrific and incredibly upsetting and traumatizing for us.
And the weirder the phobia, the harsher the treatment, in my experience. I have a really fucking weird phobia. If I gave a thousand people a thousand guesses, nobody would think of it - because it is completely fucking ridiculous and makes absolutely no sense. I know it makes no sense. I can’t even tell people WHY I’m afraid of it. I just am. It’s just the way my brain works. I’ve seen doctors about it, and even they brush it off. My favorite was when my doctor told me it was just social anxiety.
It’s not. There is a very, very, VERY specific thing that I am afraid of (and it has nothing to do with people or interacting with them at all). She just couldn’t understand it, and so she didn’t even try to explain it, or treat it, or help me at all.
Here’s the thing. When someone tells you what their phobia is, it means they’re trusting you not to abuse that knowledge. So guess what? Don’t. Fucking. Abuse it. Because it’s cruel, disrespectful, petty, and could traumatize them even more. Notice how I didn’t tell you mine? Yeah. There’s a reason.
I’m incredibly serious about this. If you take anything away from this post, let it be this:
If someone tells you they have a phobia, respect it. Don’t test them just to see what their reaction is. Don’t make fun of them for how stupid it sounds. They can’t explain it. They can’t turn it off. It’s who they are. It’s not a joke. It’s not funny.