People Are Pointing Out What Double Standards They’re Tired Of (30 Answers)

"Reflective exercises can help people see all the positive things that have happened, giving more agency to move beyond the unfair aspects that can't be changed. In addition, it is important to harness and express the emotions generated by unfairness in a healthy way, rather than suppress them, as that is more damaging than the unfairness itself," Psychologist Lee, from Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing, told Bored Panda.

"Unfairness can make us angry, frustrated and, at times, powerless. Relaxation exercises are great for creating space for us to challenge our initial reaction to unfairness, and allow us to reflect on choosing a more empowered response. Breathing exercises are great for this, slowing us down and bringing us to a stable place. Practicing mindfulness and gratitude can also be powerful ways to express and focus on what can be controlled and the difference that can be made," the expert suggested some methods to help control our feelings when faced with unfairness.

"It also creates an opportunity to let things go that can be controlled, freeing up that energy to be used constructively. This stops the rumination that so often leaves us trapped, feeling like the world is unfair, and opens us up to see the good things that happen."

The psychologist continued: "Finally, we need to monitor our thoughts and feelings, analyze our self-talk and spot the patterns that are not serving us well. Just doing this allows us space to consider how we can turn our emotions into positive action, potentially making the world a fairer place for others through the things we can control, and find productive ways to express all the emotions that come from our own expectations."

Meanwhile, the author of the r/AskReddit thread told Bored Panda a bit about the inspiration behind the thread. "I came up with the thread a week ago when I was talking with my sister, it just popped in my head and I thought it was a pretty good question. People's responses were one of two things: good nuanced and detailed problems, or just straight up sexism and discrimination of either white people, Arabs, or black people," the OP shared her thoughts about how Reddit reacted to the question.

In the redditor's opinion, the double standards that do the most harm to society are "probably the ones involving gender, like how a male leader is confident and inspiring, while a female leader is bossy and arrogant."

"This affects society as much as it affects me since I work in a managerial position in a pharmaceutical research firm, and some interns once complained to my boss that I'm too bossy and strict and they don't want to work under me, and they ended up with an even worse person but they were fine with it since it was a man," she gave an example from her personal life.

The author said that, in her opinion, she "hate[s] every single one" instance of double standards, "no matter how insignificant." They also opened up about what double standard irks them the most. "The one I hate the most is people supporting Ukraine while never looking at the Israel/Palestine conflict or even supporting Israel!" she shared her personal opinion.

According to the OP, what she sees far too frequently these days is that a lot of people point out the flaws without actually trying to solve them. She believes that it's best to either ignore "these problems and the people stupid enough to believe in them, or try and educate them about it peacefully."

As for dealing with anger when seeing all the injustice in the world, the author of the thread suggests talking it out with others. "People need to talk. We're social beings and we can't live without talking and being social lays off a lot of steam. If you have a lot of anger issues and you want to get rid of that, talk to your friends, parents, therapist, or even yourself, it helps a lot and sometimes you can just forget all the [bad] things happening around the world and live in your own bubble."

We’ve probably all seen at least a handful of double standards in our daily lives. It’s inescapable, really. You might have gotten a big dose of it at work (why do all of your managers get to work from home or while abroad when you’re forced into the office every day?) or when picking up your kid from the nursery (why do they treat me differently just because I’m a dad/mom?).

These situations can honestly make you feel very frustrated. However, constantly living in a state of anger clearly isn’t good for you.

Licensed Counselor Suzanne Degges-White, from Northern Illinois University, previously explained to Bored Panda that people tend to enjoy reading about the darker aspects of humanity because it minimizes our own negative traits.

“Whether it's greed, anger, promiscuity, and so on, when we hear just how bad someone else has been, it can make us feel better about our own tendencies towards the dark side traits. It also lets us imagine vicariously what it would be like to be ‘that bad,’” she told us why there’s a certain fascination with hearing about just how horrible, unfair, unjust some individuals might be.

However, the professor warned that being constantly angry at just how unjust the world around us is can have very negative effects on our bodies.

“Constant anger can lead to metabolic diseases, cardiovascular problems, and digestive issues. For some people, health concerns are the reason that they may learn to let go of anger,” Degges-White said.

“While being angry can lead to social change and begin to topple barriers and other aspects of injustice, we also know that anger isn't going to be the best choice to build alliances or convince others of the need for change,” she told Bored Panda.

“Finding common ground is essential in making true, collaborative change. This requires us to let go of anger, whether that is finding a way to sublimate it or overcome it, or just put it aside for the time being.” In other words, there’s a place and a time for being angry. However, it won’t solve all of your problems… and it might even create some unexpected new ones, too.