Cutting is not selfish.

For the record, I don't endorse cutting, it's just explaining why calling it "selfish" is inaccurate.

Mostly inspired by this:  www.deviantart.com/art/It-real…


Commenting was disabled so I guess I gotta make a whole stamp now


   Selfishness, by definition, is being only or mainly concerned with yourself, particularly at the expense of others.  By this logic, any form of coping or self-interest is selfish.  That particular stamp explains that it's selfish basically because poor people exist.  This is the fallacy of relative privation;  the cutter and the poverty-stricken children in Africa have never met each other, and what they do to their own bodies is none of their mutual business.  It would only be selfish if a child in Africa magically died every time you cut yourself, or had any negative effect whatsoever on them.  Problems aren't erased or invalid because there are more severe ones that may require more attention.  Problems in the first world aren't real problems, just like how no true Scotsman puts sugar in his porridge.  Even if solving world hunger is in the top of humanity's to-do list, to go as far as to claim your problems are literally nonexistent is ridiculous.  It probably started off as a figurative claim that functioned as a reminder of more pressing issues, then it started being taken more literally over the generations.

People who pull the "life could be worse" card are confusing a lack of perspective with selfishness.  There's a difference.

   And hypothetically, it's possible to be a cutter (although that alone is generally unwise) and be an active anti-poverty activist.  Cutting does not indicate that you don't care about other people, it just means that you're battling your own demons like everybody else; albeit in a way that is widely frowned upon due to obvious health risks.

   Aside from calling cutters selfish, it's also insensitive.  Think: if you were at rock bottom in life and someone came by and told you that you were being selfish, would you feel better about yourself or worse?  It will likely make your self-esteem to drop lower than it already is.  "Tough love" does not work with this.  It won't make them come out of their shell, it's just going to make them want to retreat deeper into it.  Being gentle and patient goes a lot further than harsh scrutiny.



My point is that cutting and selflessness are not mutually exclusive.  It's easy for people to downplay or overlook mental illness until it's them with the inability to feel joy or regretting their existence altogether.  And trying to explain depression to someone who has never had it is like trying to explain color to a blind person, it's one of those things that can't be appropriately understood unless it's been experienced.



Sorry that the only link I have is from Wikipedia, but there is a lot of relevance in that one little paragraph:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_…



Also, don't be afraid to point out if I'm coming off as angry or hostile, because that's not the tone I intended at all.  Since I'm just words on a screen and there are no auditory cues, all I can really do is try and use good wording.