Stop Calling It ‘Banter’.
It’s something else
Several years ago, the word ‘banter’ started being used socially on a regular basis.
The context is normally someone making fun of someone else. That person getting offended, and being told not to worry because it’s ‘just banter’.
The purpose of this ‘banter’ is to belittle or embarrass someone of an assumed lower social standing.
Real ‘banter’ is when two people of equal standing trade jokey insults. No one loses social standing and no one is offended.
Today, what happens is that the person insulted can’t comment. If they do, they are accused of not being able to ‘take the banter’. It ends up being them who is at fault.
They have to accept it.
Well, I’m sorry this isn’t ‘Banter’.
It’s ‘Bullying’. Plain and simple
So, call it out for what it is and put a stop to it.
