As inauguration day approaches, politics get discussed and it’s all but guaranteed that people are going to clash. Maybe it was an old bigot that got things heated. Maybe it was a young sjw. They argue about race, or feminism, or maybe the environment. But you know what’s the most annoying thing that often ends up happening? The Emotion Police show up.

With a haughty look on their face and self-righteousness dripping from their mouths, the Emotion Police cry out, “You’re just emotional!” Suddenly, the argument is over and nothing else matters because they’ve officially “won.” The Emotion Police then gallop away on their high horse, starring in their own flop of a western film.

“Emotional” – we treat the word it like its a reprimand, a dismissal, and an insult all wrapped up in a neat little condescending bow. We act as though we don’t and shouldn’t have emotions naturally, or that we wish they didn’t exist.

Clarifying “Emotional”

I’m not talking about when a person starts shooting death threats, or shouts stuff life “choke on a cock” or “pound sand up your ass,” both of which I’ve actually been told the past couple days (to clarify, death threats and attacks like this usually come from people like like neo-nazis, the KKK, and Trump supporters). If someone’s shooting death threats, then that doesn’t need addressing because it’s not even an argument.

Arguments are the key focus here. I’m talking about when victims bite through their tears when recalling their trauma to put context to their argument. Or when a POC gets passionate when they talk about systemic and institutional racism. They have information and logic to back them up, not just random hate. The “emotional” I’m talking about is reactionary by nature, not an attack.

Emotional Policing in Action

So if a person is being “emotional” then suddenly they, and everything they’ve said up to that point, is utterly invalid.

Women talking about feminism and their own frustration being treated differently from their male counterparts get told they’re “hormonal” or “on their period.” Even if that were true that doesn’t change the fact that women still don’t see their rapists go to prison even with a mountain load of evidence, or the fact that men who suffer domestic abuse suffer in silence because of public ridicule.

LGBT+ folk talking about their trauma after being attacked for their gender or sexuality get told they should “stop whining and deal with the real world.” Even if they do stop talking and go see family/go to work, that doesn’t change the fact that lgbt+ youth are at higher risk of homelessness because they get kicked out by their families and communities, or how lgbt+ people don’t have legal protection against job discrimination in all 50 states.

Black Lives Matter protestors trying to protect their communities from police brutality get told that they “shouldn’t riot” or that they’re “just being angry.” That still doesn’t change the fact that police brutality disproportionally against POC still exists or that there’s an entire industry called the prison industrial complex that directly profits from putting POC in prison and has an active interest in keeping them there.

By pointing out how a person can get a little bit emotional (like we humans do) suddenly all that information gets ignored, and the person gets turned into a joke without any real work from the Emotion Police.

Emotion Policing is a Childish Dismissive Tactic

It’s the oldest and laziest divisive tactic in the book. You don’t put in any actual work or logic, it’s just a coward’s way out of dealing with the fact that you don’t have anything to back up your own views. It’s a tactic used when you don’t want to admit you’re wrong when (more often than not) evidence is being practically spoon fed to you.

It’s like a child that realizes they’re losing and decides the only way to win is to make up some imaginary rule that blames other people. I have experience working with kids, and I can tell from experience that’s exactly the kind of stuff they do. Did I just call a bunch of people childish? Yes. Yes I did. So how about the Emotion Police take some of their own advice and start facing reality instead of acting like unruly children?

Concluding Remarks

I called out some people in this post because I’ve been getting a lot of this kind of crap recently. I’m expecting at least one person to try to pull it here too, hopefully not though since the irony would be pretty on the nose. Feel free to disagree with me in anything I said though! Have some of y’all dealt with this kind of stuff before? How did you deal with it?