Editing 1216: Sticks and Stones

{{comic
| number    = 1216
| date      = May 24, 2013
| title     = Sticks and Stones
| image     = sticks and stones.png
| titletext = Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserved it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Sticks and Stones (nursery rhyme)|Sticks and Stones}} is a nursery rhyme, one common variant of which goes as follows:
<blockquote>Sticks and stones may break my bones<br>
But words will never hurt me.</blockquote>
The rhyme is often used by parents and teachers to persuade a child to ignore mean taunts and name-calling that others use to try and hurt the child's feelings. The idea is that you haven't been hurt physically, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

The comic challenges this sentiment when the child responds that, although words can't harm you physically, they can change how you feel, and he considers that to be comparable to physical harm. [[Cueball]] replies optimistically, by claiming that the world really isn't that bad. The child refers again to the rhyme, observing that the physical world can be harsh, because there are things like sticks and stones that break your bones and presumably people who use them as weapons to do so. Or yet worse, that someone would think up such a gruesome saying in the first place. Upon reflection, Cueball agrees that this image is actually horrific.

The title text is rather dark, and is probably a reference to the currently active bullying and shaming culture.{{Actual citation needed}} None of us deserve to be beaten or stoned,{{Citation needed}} but words are powerful enough to make us {{w|Gaslighting|think that we do}}.

Recent studies (for example: [http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6270.full?sid=758b38cc-b399-4d22-9c37-3c074cf321b Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain]) have shown that, in fact, the brain's reactions to physical pain and emotional rejection are somewhat similar and even feed into each other.

==Transcript==
:[A child, who looks like a miniature Cueball, is running with arms outstretched toward Cueball.]
:Child: Did you hear what he said about me!?
:Cueball: Well, remember: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words—

:Child: —can make someone else feel happy or sad, which is literally the only thing that matters in this stupid world?

:[Brief pause.]

:Child: Right?
:Cueball: The world isn't ''that'' bad.
:Child: Explain the line about sticks and stones?
:Cueball: ...OK, maybe it's kind of horrific.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]