Bullying has been a rampant problem for decades. According to the U.S. Department of Health, 546,159 children were victims of abuse or neglect in the U.S. in 2023, a number that does not seem to be improving. With the addition of the new trend of ragebaiting, people are given an excuse to play up harassment, bullying peers as “just a joke.”
Ragebaiting is the act of trying to enrage someone and push them to their emotional limit for the sake of entertainment. Bullying follows this same pattern except ragebaiting has become a more socially acceptable activity since it is underplayed as surface level and, wrongfully, not actually harmful.
There are, however, many connections between the two. Bullying and ragebaiting both utilize mockery through jokes. Jokes have often served to help people develop meaningful relationships, but what is labeled as humor can often be harmful as well as rooted in targeted stereotypes.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bullying as the abuse or mistreatment from someone with greater power, whether that be physical or in influence. Insults and taunting are often the baseline “joke” for both ragebaiting and bullying. Those hurtful remarks can cause people to experience a variety of negative emotions, including but not limited to, fear, anger and shame.
Furthermore, people may even experience psychological harm, such as depression and insomnia. By purposefully baiting people with inflammatory remarks, ragebaiting constitutes a version of verbal bullying left mostly unrecognized by popular media. The added bonus of popular social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram gathering likes after likes for this type of content as well as monetary rewards showcases how current society endorses in ragebaiting, feeding into bullying culture.
A way the media seeks to reward bullying and mockery in real life is in sports games. A rampant trend of screaming “That’s my man” during volleyball and basketball games – and other sports utilizing a moment of suspense – has recently been active. When posted on social media, these videos gain hundreds of thousands of views and condone public shaming and humiliation as acceptable because they are entertaining.
By prioritizing entertainment over a person’s dignity, there is the cost of the actual game. Ragebaiting is utilized as a dirty tactic to distract players and can result in real consequences beyond the player’s feelings. People who engage in rage-baiting do so without any thought of the potential consequences, or they do so with malicious intent.
A joke is meant to be something all parties can engage in and be amused by. Because this “joke” has both internal and external consequences to the person subject to it – ones that are much less amusing when being on the receiving end – ragebaiting is too cruel to actually be characterized as a joke. Instead, engaging in malicious behavior is encouraged and the victims are mocked.
Additionally, society rewards people who win arguments, or who simply provide the most entertainment, having their own “Ooh burn” moment online. In fact, bullying and ragebaiting have become so glorified that the phrase “Bring back bullying” is starting to even come up as a suggestion to counter the idea of our current generation being too sensitive and passionate about anti-bullying messages. The idea that ragebaiting toughens up young people cannot be justified because ragebaiting, as a form of bullying, is harmful to the mental states and livelihoods of those who endure it.
Some people argue that there are exceptions, that it is fine to ragebait people closest to them who know the jokes are harmless. Ragebaiting is not friendly banter and is rooted in angering and provoking others, and it is not okay. Insulting someone and risking the safety and comfort of people, regardless of the status of the relationship, is never okay.
Nedra Tawwab, licensed counselor and author specializing in boundaries and healthy dynamics, said to harm a loved one is even more cruel, as truly healthy relationships need to be built from love, trust and healthy dialogue. Not all friendships have a concrete boundary for the types of remarks that constitute as playful versus harmful, meaning people cannot expect others to always enjoy ragebaiting or being ragebaited.
In reality, the problem is not that people have become sensitive to disrespect, nor is it that they cannot take a joke. Ragebaiting itself is not a joke nor should it be treated as such. It is a sly way to try and justify bullying.
It is time to realize that bullying takes a hefty toll on people and may even put their lives at stake. Whether one wants to acknowledge it or not, ragebaiting is perpetuating a cycle of mistreatment amongst youth, and now is the time to confront and abolish it.