Casual Cruelty 

Something that's way too common in high school. Someone who is smarter, more shy, has fewer friends, or is less athletic than the average person is more prone to receiving it. Even ordinary people to like to think of themselves as essentially good people tend to be casually cruel to people they think of as losers, and seem to have no moral qualms about doing so, despite the fact that they barely know the "loser", or that the "loser" has actually tried to be nice to them, and therefore have no true reason to hate the "loser". In their minds, the loser's social awkwardness justifies their cruelty to him/her. Until people can learn to treat others with compassion and the understanding that all are equal, this will go on, and countless teens will live miserable lives interspersed with thoughts of suicide.

1.) I try to be nice to Dennis since everyone else displays such casual cruelty towards him. He's really a good guy, but no one gives him a chance. Eventually, as our classmates grow up, they will hopefully mature and begin treating him with more respect.

2.) "Hey, Andrew. Need any help with that math problem?" asks the loser.

"Fuck off, fag." Andrew replies. "What's the answer to number 7?"

The loser decides to give Andrew another chance, and attempts to be nice to him. "The answer is x=3, which can be found using the Pythagorean theorem."

"That answer's probably wrong, you worthless shit-for-brains." Andrew replies. "By the way, you're ugly as shit."

The loser decides not to make a retort mentioning that Andrew happens to be even uglier than himself. He regrets attempting to be nice to him, and tries ignoring him as Andrew continues to insult him with an imaginative sequence of curses and yo-mama jokes. The poor loser is a victim of casual cruelty yet again.

Casual Cruelty by Vercingetorix1234 August 3, 2009