Death by a thousand cuts is more than a saying.
When I was in a college study abroad program, one of the guys and I played Magic. Forgive me, I am not a very good Magic player. I haven’t played in years. But I remember Red being the one that had a lot of easily playable cards (cards cast spells, but you had to have enough “mana” to activate them).
I always chose Red. I think my friend played…Black? Whichever was the one that had massive spells that could kill you in a round or two. Sometimes he won. But sometimes I won. You see, he’d keep saving up for devastating cards, and I would pick off a point each round…and before he could stop me, he’d be dead. I won quite a lot.
I almost always play by this method.
When I played WoW, I favored my affliction warlock (afflic lock). Afflic locks were fun. One of my tricks in duels was to sneak a “drain life” spell on the person. It slowly took health away from them and gave it to me. Not super powerful and not my most effective spell. But it had its uses. The instant I hit 70 (back when that was the cap) I jumped in a guild pvp tournament. I ended up against my guild leader (also a lock, but specced for raids, where as I was specced for pvp). I won, despite the fact I was heavily outgeared. He said it was the “drain life” that did it. He hadn’t even noticed until just before he lost.
I want microaggressions called microaggressions.
Someone might say, “But it’s not a micro aggression when the impact is large.” But I don’t believe that is true. Micro acts can, and do, build up over time. I don’t believe they are micro, because their impact on a person is small.
I think they’re called micro, because of how they’re seen by others.
But death by a thousand cuts is real. Even when it doesn’t mean dying or physical pain in the physical realm. At the very least, it kills love every day.