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TikTok/ninaafisher, laylah_marie, and ihatepetehegset
People online are sharing the eye-opening moments in their lives as part of a TikTok trend that is in response to the question "What radicalized you?"
But the trend can be traced back to October last year, where a viral post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @rebmasel who wrote, "'What radicalized you?' probably my basic human empathy."
The post has a whopping 22.7 million views, and 285,000 likes, and came at a time when the campaign for the 2024 presidential election was in high gear.
Later on, this question became a TikTok trend where people share their big moments to answer what "radicalized" them.
As part of it, videos tend to use the song 'Colors of the Wind' by Judy Kuhn, which was written for the Disney film Pocahontas (1995).
The part that plays features the lyrics: "You think the only people who are people/Are the people who look and think like you/But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger/You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew."
TikToker Nina (@ninaafisher) responded to the question, "Idk when I was a kid my dad would play 'big corporation' with me and my sisters, where we would build cute gorgeous little sandcastles at the beach and then he would yell 'HERE COMES THE BIG CORPORATION' and destroy them."
@ninaafisher true story
The video has nearly 2 million views, 455,000 likes, and lots of comments from viewers who also shared similar experiences with their dad.
One person said: "I'm crying your dad is a baddie."
"Once we had a lemonade stand and made like $50 and my dad walked us through 'here’s how much the lemonade materials cost' 'here’s your taxes' 'here’s your overhead' Etc and left us with like $3," a second person wrote.
A third person added: "I 'tax' my kid brothers snacks. He has no representation cause he’s 10. He gets it."
"I'm literally screaming at this," a fourth person commented.
Meanwhile, creator @ihatepetehegseth shared: "Idk I was in 2nd grade and found out the girl in my class didn't have a toothbrush and i was literally horrified.
"I saved my lunch money for four days behind my parents' backs and then gave it to them so I could buy her a toothbrush. They were blown away and took me to the store within an hour. The next day, I gave it to her in private, and she was so grateful. I think about her every day."
@ihatepetehegseth sometimes that’s all it takes
For Laylah (@laylah_marie), it was one particular song that "radicalized" her as she wrote, "I heard this song when I was like six and actually listen to the lyrics," referring to Colors of the Wind' by Judy Kuhn.
@laylah_marie real princess shit
Creator Micah (@micahteresa) revealed her "real answer"which now has 12.8 million views, 2.9 million likes where she recalled "the day after 9/11, my dad sat my siblings and I down and told us the three Muslim kids at our school were going to get bullied, and that he expected us to stick up for them, and look after them."
@micahteresa this trend but a real answer #colorsofthewind
Elsewhere, Jet2holidays ad trends as Tiktoker's share chaotic vacation videos, and The Weeknd's acting in movie 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' becomes a viral meme.
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