Word of the Day: Lash out
It wasn’t long ago when, if we wanted to lash out, we would think twice about it first.
As a result, we mostly thought better of it and kept our opinions to ourselves.
The development of social media has changed all that.
These days, no matter where we are, the time of day or night, or the topic, people instantly lash out whenever something gets their goat.
Thinking comes later.
I’d venture to say that often people don’t even think about or regret any of the mean things they post on social media.
You may have already guessed the meaning of lash out, or you may not have.
In any case, lashing out means attacking someone suddenly.
The attack can be physical, as in a punch in the face or in the form of critical comments.
In either case, the intention is to hurt the other person.
The main problem is that it does hurt.
The laws and the judicial system which enforces those laws have much experience dealing with physical violence.
This means that if someone were to lash out by sucker-punching you on an escalator, there’s a system in place for you to get justice.
However, if someone is trolling you online by saying hurtful or untrue things or even by revealing private things about you, the law is not so adept at catching and prosecuting that person.
One of the great things about the Internet is that people can freely share their thoughts and opinions without getting into face-to-face confrontations.
Likewise, it’s also one of the negative things.
Lashing out is a side effect of our newfound freedom.
We can freely hurt the ones we disagree with, and the anonymity of the Internet allows us to avoid the consequences.
If we all just thought twice when we wanted to lash out, the world would be a much better place.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 70.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.