Here's an inside look at the viral skeletons video that brought joy to the Internet.
Remember those dancing, kissing skeletons that made us all smile? Here's what you didn't see.
We at Upworthy have been honored to support the "Love Has No Labels" campaign.
Their first video caught millions of people off-guard, but it left them with nothing but the good feels. With part two of the video, they're introducing us to the stars, who smile as they share their stories of true love. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
<span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span>There are two very profound messages behind all this cuteness.
The first one is fairly obvious. They say “love has no labels." I buy that 100%. True love isn't something we express with modifiers. And though we're all different and each of our relationships is unique, when we really feel love, we can all feel it with the same endless depth and intensity.
The second message might be a little harder to catch. Like love, it's not something we can really measure. It's an inner tide that pushes and pulls us to behave in certain ways. And like love, it's something that takes work. That something is called implicit bias.
"Implicit bias is the bias in judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes (e.g., implicit attitudes and implicit stereotypes) that often operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control."
— National Center for State Courts
They say it's what's on the inside that counts. But what's on the outside still matters.
Whether we realize it or not, our implicit biases cause us to judge others before we even have a chance to know them. We're constantly making prejudgments based on all of those traits — those labels — that, as this campaign so delightfully illustrates, have nothing to do with our capacity to love, be it race, religion, gender, age, disability, or anything else.
Via the Kirwan Institute
The real-world effects of implicit bias are bigger you may know.
It affects people's ability to make friends, to find jobs, or even to just go about their day in peace. And as we've come to learn, when implicit biases seep into areas such as policing and justice, things can get very sad and very ugly.
But don't feel guilty about implicit bias. We're all human, and no one is exempt.
However, if one of your living objectives is to be a "good" person — a kinder and more humane person — that's where the work comes in. Old habits may die hard, but ingrained, unconscious prejudice can be even more difficult to uproot.
This is arguably among the most important challenges for humanity to overcome. The better we get at identifying and addressing implicit biases — both as individuals and communities — the more we can focus on, well, love.
Want to get started now?
Take this quiz on the campaign website. With each response, you'll learn a little more about how implicit biases play out in real life and ways to avoid playing into the stereotypes.
Josh Pieters/YouTube
