trivializations
Making things unimportant
Trivializations are acts of making something seem less important, serious, or complex than it actually is.
The word often carries disapproval—what one person calls simplification, another calls trivialization: Critics accused the documentary of trivializations that distorted the historical record.
To trivialize suffering or injustice is to dismiss its weight.
Acts of reducing magnitude
- belittlementsRemarks that diminish worth
- downplayingDiminishing perceived significance
- diminishmentsActs of making smaller
- understatementsDeliberately diminished descriptions
discounting · marginalizing · disregarding · slighting · deprecations · devaluations · underestimations · demeaning
Attributing responsibility to harmed party
- gaslightingManipulation causing self-doubt
- microaggressionsMinor discriminatory remarks
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
- erasureAct of wiping away
invalidation · normalization · desensitization · deflection · whataboutism · both-sidesing · denial · rationalization
Statements missing crucial nuance
- reductionsActs of lessening
- dumbing-downReducing intellectual content
- distortionsMisshapen versions of truth
- misrepresentationsUntrue depictions of reality
superficiality · shallowness · vulgarizations · popularizations · dilutions · caricatures · stereotyping · generalizations
Explaining wholes through parts
- simplificationMaking something less complex
- mischaracterizationDescribing something inaccurately
- strawmanningDistorting someone's argument deliberately
- cherry-pickingChoosing only supporting examples
decontextualization · misattribution · oversimplifying · presentism · anachronism
minimizations
Acts of reducing magnitude
- belittlementsRemarks that diminish worth
- downplayingDiminishing perceived significance
- diminishmentsActs of making smaller
understatements · discounting · marginalizing · disregarding · slighting · deprecations · devaluations · underestimations · demeaning · condescension
victim-blaming
Attributing responsibility to harmed party
- gaslightingManipulation causing self-doubt
- microaggressionsMinor discriminatory remarks
- silencingStopping noise or dissent
erasure · invalidation · normalization · desensitization · deflection · whataboutism · both-sidesing · denial · rationalization · excusing
oversimplifications
Statements missing crucial nuance
- reductionsActs of lessening
- dumbing-downReducing intellectual content
- distortionsMisshapen versions of truth
misrepresentations · superficiality · shallowness · vulgarizations · popularizations · dilutions · caricatures · stereotyping · generalizations · flattening
reductionism
Explaining wholes through parts
- simplificationMaking something less complex
- mischaracterizationDescribing something inaccurately
- strawmanningDistorting someone's argument deliberately
cherry-picking · decontextualization · misattribution · oversimplifying · presentism · anachronism
trivializationsamplifications
Acts of increasing intensity
magnifications · exaggerations · dramatizations · aggrandizements · inflations
trivializationsvalidations
Confirmations of correctness
acknowledgments · affirmations · recognitions · vindications · substantiations