The following is taken from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/short/comments/2be8mj/13_year_old_commits_suicide_after_years_of_being/cj56244
Ironclad is the perfect word for what it is.
We can't improve ourselves or defend ourselves from the stigmas, or that
is used as evidence that the stigmas are deserved. We can't get help
from the media because they never take the issue seriously, they
misrepresent studies in order to reaffirm the stereotypes, and
celebrities either go full Garmin, or they remain silent about the issue
because speaking against heightism can be a career killer. Basically,
the stereotypes spread and reinforce at a rate much faster than the few
of us who approach this issue can mount any countereffort.
We got left behind when other forms of discrimination moved forward.
So, people equate heightism with "discrimination against big noses" etc,
even though we have a body of evidence showing discrimination that
links directly to height, but this is the price we pay for getting left
behind when other isms were taking off. So, our evidence is cast away as
"Everyone goes through something in life" even though the something
that we go through has a ton of empirical evidence to prove it, while
the other "somethings in life" that are used as counterarguments against
us do not.(BTW- not saying that those other somethings aren't worthy of
being addressed as well)
Also, being that we got left behind, we're not allowed to use
analogies and comparisons to other forms of discrimination, even if
we're just comparing the mechanics and not the historical significance.
This is always carried-out by a straw man argument that represents us as
stating that we're advocating for everyone to stop fighting other forms
of discrimination so that they can fight heightism. This
misrepresentation just will not die. If people don't enact this
misrepresentation, it's the one about how fighting heightism is an
indication that we are saying that slavery or The Holocaust was no big
deal. People are rightfully fighting other traditionally-addressed isms,
but they think that by trivializing anti-heightism efforts, they are
somehow honoring the fights against those other isms. They are enacting
an irrelevant strategy, but people who hold this misguided opinion are
the majority of the populace. Good luck fighting the majority of the
populace when you belong to a group that is generally ubiquitously
despised, especially when they're idiotically assigning your efforts as
an affront to efforts against other forms of discrimination that society
is trying to eradicate.
Also, while heightism is not totally gender-specific, men get the
brunt of it. Men aren't allowed to have issues or we're "not men." This
is especially ironclad for us because we're already "not men" because of
our height, so this issue compounds itself exponentially due to this
Catch-22.
Then, there's the science(and pseudo-science) arguments where people
apply biological arguments to justify heightism. These people all use
computers, drive cars, and live in civilization, yet when it comes to
heightism..they want it to be "Call of the wild." All of the things I've
mentioned thus far help sway them in this direction, but you just can't
argue with science...so that puts the nail in the coffin.
Societally, we're also dealing with a continuum of generations who
are set in their ways on one side, and who have an indoctrinated sense
of self-importance on the younger. On the older end, they see anything
that changes as pissing on their nostalgia, and see any effort for
social change as evidence that society is becoming "pussified" and going
to "hell in a handbasket." On the younger end, we have The Self-Esteem
Generation who have been taught that their opinions are golden and they
can do anything they want if they smear a unicorn's ear wax on their
chest and have "confidence." They are so darling that they can change
the world with just their desire. So, everyone falls on this continuum
somewhere, but no matter which side they're on, they are set in their
ways or maintain a super-inflated idea of their importance to society.
Those on the older(or older thinking) parts of the continuum are using
flippant dismissals of things like anti-heightism efforts as a way to
prove that "The buck stops here." They want to seal all loopholes that
could potentially piss on their precious nostalgia to a degree where
they may have to change their ways. This stew of self-involvement and
inflated ego leads to a narrative where the status quo wins-out,
therefore, anti-heightism efforts are not going to flourish in the
current social climate.
These are some of the attitudes we're dealing with, and they even
transcend heightism. Add the March of The Garmins into the mix, and our
efforts get even further diluted because those of us who oppose
heightism are believed to be "out of line" because people are used to
Garmins staying in their place, and they expect us to be good little
boys just like the Garmins.
Furthermore, and possibly most poignantly, society just flat-out
doesn't listen to what short people say. Our size makes us child-like,
so the best thing to do when we say anything that could upset the herd,
is scold us and send us to bed without a juice box. It doesn't matter
what we say, know, or think...because we're supposed to speak only when
spoken to, and when we are spoken to, we are expected to only reply in a
specific manner and tone, and we're supposed to only reply with content
that has been predetermined by society, and is associated with our
stature.
These are only a few of the reasons why it's such a mess trying to
move this issue forward, but it's a mess indeed, and it's not going to
be easy to sift through every cliche, stigma, stereotype, straw man
argument, false belief, and inflated sense of importance this society
offers. We definitely have our work cut out for us.
