Rage bait and the words we live by

Words reflect the world. A language breathes its existence through its words. A robust sign of a thriving language is not only its ability to preserve its inherited vocabulary but also its ability to form and fashion new words that strike concordance with the ever-changing sociological dynamics. In a world that is social media addicted, artificial intelligence afflicted, and emoji attrited, the languages of the world face a daunting challenge to adapt and remain adept in such a fast-paced society that we live in.

English, the lingua franca of the world today, has become the most predominant language precisely for exhibiting such a flexibility with which it faces the constant change. A language that fails to meet the needs of the times, gets relegated into a position of constricted application. Languages of eminence during the millennia before the common era such as Latin, Egyptian, Greek and Sanskrit are classic cases of what happens to a language when it becomes rigid and archaic. That’s a perilous limitation. And as the 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein puts it, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world”. A language must breach the limits which every era throws at it for it to remain apposite.

English negotiates such crests and troughs in the lifecycle of a language with astonishing ease. One major factor behind its continued dominance is the role played by premier academic institutions in keeping it relevant and sustainable. Oxford University Press leads this effort. Its annual selection of the ‘Oxford word of the year’ not only enriches the English lexicon but also keeps the language continually growing, changing and remaining relevant. For 2025, Oxford has chosen the expression ‘rage bait’.

The term captures the essence of contemporary public discourse. It also effectively depicts the kernel of social media’s overall existence today. Rage has become the very definition of social media to a larger extent, if not to its fullest. A casual stroll through social media platforms reveals how rage has become a common form of expression – be it an upfront action or a reticent reaction. Countless people appear perpetually poised to vent their ire at something or somebody. These are not isolated occurrences. A careful observation of the trends lays bare the undercurrents that keep these social media platforms engulfed.

Those undercurrents are fuelled by a perennial source of antagonism, albeit a manufactured one. In other words, rage is offered as bait and supplied as a necessary rot. Unfortunately, that rot runs deep. Much to the consternation of every saner voice, such rage acts as a pernicious sociological disorder. Worse still, rage becomes an accepted norm. And rage baiting becomes an everyday phenomenon. This is what we see today on the social media platforms. Entities with nefarious motives keep throwing rage as the bait, and the thoughtless lot bites it nonchalantly. As a consequence, sanity and sobriety become not only unpopular but also equally repugnant. Rage-bait consumes the compos mentis of the society and establishes rancorous rage as the new acceptable social behaviour.

As every stick has two ends, so does an arrow. But when rage is the arrow, then both its sides are penetratingly sharp. The archer of the rage, however long he intends to drag the string, will have to eventually endure the strident strike of the same arrow and with the same ferocity. The archer and the arrow thus become hunter and the hunted at the same time. That’s the price the practitioners of mindless rage will have to pay ultimately. The venom spewed through the rage becomes the toxon, and the spewer its toxophilite. The word toxic, interestingly though, is derived from the root word toxon. The expression ‘rage-bait’ exactly illustrates the unhealthy trend prevalent in today’s societal confabulation, and in choosing it as the word of the year 2025, Oxford University Press has conscientiously recorded one of the concerning precipitations of social media today that runs like an uncontrolled turning and tossing bronco.

For many reasons, T S Eliot was a prophetic poet. Eliot says in his work Four Quartets: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.”

On the cusp of entering a new year, let us hope this year’s rage baiting becomes a thing of the past, and next year’s new words find their way through new voices which can keep the bane and baleful bait at bay.

(The writer is an independent researcher of Indology, ancient history
and epigraphy)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.