How We Name Harm
People excuse harm every day. Sometimes loudly. Sometimes politely. Sometimes with a smile and a receipt.
This site exists to name it anyway.
These categories aren't meant to sound scholarly. They're meant to be clear. Each one is a lens for recognizing how harm happens, how it spreads, and how people justify it.
A single story can fit more than one category. When that happens, I use the category that best captures the core harm.
Abuse of Power
What it means
When someone with authority, influence, or control uses it to exploit, punish, silence, or intimidate others.
What it includes
- Retaliation against critics or whistleblowers
- Coercion, intimidation, threats
- Weaponizing rules to target people
- Using "the system" as a bat
What it's not
- Someone being strict but fair
- Normal enforcement of rules without targeting or cruelty
Fictional examples
- A manager threatens to fire workers who report safety violations.
- A local official blocks permits for anyone who supports an opponent.
Corporate Greed
What it means
When profit becomes the excuse to harm people, mislead them, trap them, or squeeze them.
What it includes
- Cutting corners that endanger others
- Predatory pricing, deceptive fees, "gotcha" contracts
- Exploiting workers while claiming it's unavoidable
- Treating people like numbers, not lives
What it's not
- A business making a profit ethically
- Normal pricing decisions that don't rely on deception or harm
Fictional examples
- A company hides known health risks because a recall would cost too much.
- A service advertises "$9.99" but the real monthly cost is triple after mandatory fees.
Environmental Harm
What it means
When damage to the environment is treated as acceptable collateral — especially when the harm is long-term, preventable, or deliberately ignored.
What it includes
- Pollution, dumping, poisoning water and air
- Greenwashing (pretending to be "eco" while doing the opposite)
- Destroying ecosystems for convenience or profit
- Shifting consequences onto communities and future generations
What it's not
- Honest accidents paired with responsibility and repair
- Unavoidable impact where harm is minimized and disclosed
Fictional examples
- A factory dumps waste at night because it's cheaper than proper disposal.
- A brand sells "green" products while its supply chain quietly destroys habitats.
Human Rights Violations
What it means
When people are treated as less than human. When dignity becomes optional. When suffering is considered acceptable.
What it includes
- Forced labor, trafficking, abuse
- Targeting groups through discrimination or violence
- Denying basic safety, healthcare, housing, or fair process
- Policies or practices that knowingly produce cruelty
What it's not
- Disagreement or discomfort
- Consequences that are proportional, lawful, and humane
Fictional examples
- A detention facility denies medical care to punish people into compliance.
- A group is stripped of legal protections "temporarily" until it becomes permanent.
Information and Narrative Control
What it means
When truth is managed. When the public is pushed toward a preferred story through distortion, omission, intimidation, or manufactured doubt.
What it includes
- Controlling what information is allowed to spread
- Strategic half-truths and selective evidence
- "Flooding the zone" with noise so nothing can be trusted
- Punishing people for speaking plainly
How it differs from "lying"
A lie is a single weapon. Narrative control is an entire battlefield. It's not just falsehood — it's shaping what people think is real, what they notice, and what they're allowed to question.
Does fake news fit here?
Yes, when it's part of a pattern: repeated distortion designed to steer belief, protect power, or manufacture outrage.
What it's not
- Honest bias or perspective
- Reporting mistakes corrected in good faith
Fictional examples
- A government releases selective "evidence" while suppressing anything that contradicts it.
- A media outlet repeatedly frames victims as villains until the public stops caring.
Chosen Indifference
What it means
When harm is visible, known, and avoidable… and people choose not to act because it's easier not to.
What it includes
- "Not my problem" while benefiting from the harm
- Bystanders with power staying silent
- Institutions watching harm happen and doing nothing
- Comfort being valued over conscience
What it's not
- People with no meaningful ability to change a situation
- Mistakes made without awareness
Fictional examples
- An organization knows abuse is happening and keeps quiet to protect its reputation.
- A community shrugs off cruelty because "that's just how things are."
Corruption by Design
What it means
When harm isn't an accident — it's baked in. When the system is built to produce a certain outcome, and that outcome benefits someone.
What it includes
- Rules structured to protect wrongdoing
- "Legal" structures that make accountability impossible
- Incentives that reward cruelty or exploitation
- Long-running patterns that don't get fixed because they're useful
What it's not
- A broken system that people are actively trying to repair
- Inefficiency without intent or benefit
Fictional examples
- A process is designed so complaints are "reviewed" forever but never resolved.
- A policy creates suffering that conveniently discourages people from seeking help.
A final note
These categories are here so readers can follow the logic, not just the emotion.
If you disagree with a label, good. That means you're thinking. But don't stop at the label. Ask the harder question:
- Who benefited?
- Who paid the cost?
- What was ignored?
- What was justified?
That's the point.