“Let all bitterness, rage, anger, clamor, slander and malice be put away from you. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)
After three days of fierce on-line voting and a comprehensive analysis of language data, newsworthy headlines, trends on social media, and search engine results, the Oxford Language Dictionary has chosen “rage-bait” as their official 2025 Word of the Year. The phrase defeated two other contenders, namely, “aura–farming” and “bio-hack.” Previous annual word awards presented by the renowned dictionary included, “brain-rot” (2024), “riz” (2023), “goblin mode” (2022), and “vax” (2021).
Unlike Oxford, “6-7” (pronounced “six-seven”) was selected by Dictionary.com as their 2025 expression. Other words on the online Lexicon’s shortlist included, “agentic,” “broligarchy,” “clanker,” “overtourism,” “tradwife,” and finally, the word “tariff.” Collins Dictionary, alternatively, chose “vibe-coding,” defined as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with computer code writing, as its word du jour.
Dictionary.com, suggests that the origin of “6-7” is a song called “Doot Doot (6-7)” released by the American rapper Skrilla in 2025. The hip-hop trac was quickly reinforced by viral TikTok videos featuring basketball players and a young boy known as the “67 Kid.” The nonsensical phrase is used to express a “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that” attitude. The word is often paired with a signature hand gesture where both palms face up and move alternately up and down. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of “brain-rot,” last year’s word of the year. It is the eventual dead-end of perpetual online scrolling and consumption of endless streams of hyper-personalized content curated by a computer program to maximize attention and engagement.
According to Oxford’s lexicologists, “rage-bait” refers to “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.” The emergence of a compound term highlights the flexibility of the English language.
“Rage-bait” was initially used in an online posting on Usenet in 2002. The phrase was utilized to designate a driver’s reaction to being flashed by the headlights of another car requesting to pass them, introducing the idea of deliberate agitation. The word gradually evolved into internet slang used to describe viral tweets that critique entire networks of posted online content. The word tripled in usage in 2025.
Since then, “rage-bait” has become shorthand for content designed to elicit anger by being frustrating, offensive, or deliberately divisive in nature. It is a mainstream term and a proven online tactic used to drive engagement, commonly seen in performative politics. As social media algorithms began to increasingly reward provocative content, the malevolent strategy has morphed into practices such as “rage-farming,” a more consistently applied attempt to manipulate reactions and to build anger and engagement over time by deliberately seeding misinformation or conspiracy theory-based material.
According to Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, “the fact that the word “rage-bait” exists, and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage, means we’re increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online. Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks,” insists Grathwohl, “but now we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.”
The emergence of Oxford Dictionary’s official 2025 Word of the Year prodigiously demonstrates that we are indeed living in an “age of rage.” Headlines are replete with novel words and phrases designed to describe humanity’s increasing proclivity towards anger. In fact, a recent news story described the uncontrolled road-rage of a teenage driver cursing and weaving in-and-out of traffic, until he caught up with another vehicle waiting at a stop light. The pursuer walked up to the car, pushed the muzzle of a gun through the window and shot the unsuspecting driver in the head.
Why would anyone act so foolishly? What could make a driver willing to risk the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison for venting steam during one short moment of his life? One answer immediately comes to mind – “rage!”
Rage is nothing new, but a characteristic of humanity’s sinful nature. Poets, philosophers, politicians, social commentators, and theologians have all examined the dysfunctional malady. The Old Testament King Solomon advises that “a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” emphasizing that a calm, mild response de-escalates conflict, while aggressive words fuel rage, making situations worse (Proverbs 15:1).
Writing to the 1st Century Christian community in Ephesus, Saint Paul advised that they put aside “bitterness, rage, anger, clamor, slander and malice from the hearts.” Be kind to one another, he insists, “strive to remain tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
The Apostle James similarly emphasizes “self-control, discernment, and peacemaking,” rooted in biblical principles like being “quick to listen, slow to speak” and avoiding content that stirs sinful anger or division (James 1:19). The faithful are encouraged to alternatively respond with gentleness, truth, and grace, while also guarding their hearts and minds against manipulation.
“Nothing is more grievous than wrath and fierce anger,” insists the revered Early Church Father, Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), “for it renders men both puffed up and servile, by the former making them ridiculous, by the other hateful.” Encouraging self-reflection during the Great Lenten season, Chrysostom suggests that instead of focusing anger on the ills that others might have inflected on us, “it is necessary most of all for one who is fasting to curb anger, to accustom themself to meekness and condescension, to have a contrite heart, to repulse impure thoughts and desires, and to examine their own conscience.”
Like Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great viewed rage as spiritually destructive. According to Basil, rage was a “temporary madness that leads to evil, resembling the devil.” Utilizing a variety of scriptural and patristic references he, therefore, urged Christians to overcome anger and rage with patience, and prayer, emphasizing that “anger blinds us to our own faults and harms both body and soul, hindering spiritual growth and God’s work.”
In his 20th Anniversary book, The Bait of Satan (2025), John Bevere describes “rage-bait” as a modern manifestation of an “offense” that Jesus foretold would be prevalent in the end times. Like his Christian predecessors, he warns that believers are being pulled into a “you’re either with us or against us” mentality, which distracts from the effective proclamation of the Gospel message of love and forgiveness.
In his book, The Rise of Rage Bait: How Controversy is Fueling Modern Content Creation (2025), Jay R contends that “rage-bait” is “quietly shaping society’s perceptions, conversations, and emotions . . . constantly bombarding us with content designed to provoke, trigger, and manipulate reactions.” Like Bevere, Jay R warns that content creators are increasingly using deliberate emotional manipulation and the exploitation of anger to drive engagement, which results in significant societal polarization and individual mental exhaustion.
Jay R outline several negative “rage-bait” impacts for society and individuals. Apart from societal polarization and division manipulation of attention, the author warns about mental and emotional health impacts, misinformation amplification, platform accountability and ethical questions about how digital environments are managed. Jay R concludes his tome by suggesting that media literacy is required to help the next generation navigate manipulative content and avoid emotional exhaustion.
Speaking at Vatican City in October, Pope Leo XIV urged today’s global news agencies and journalists attending a conference held by Minds International, to likewise, avoid contentious language and not betray their duty to tell the truth. “Communication must be freed from the misguided thinking that corrupts it . . . and from the degrading practice of so-called click-bait.” Like Bevere and Jay R, the Catholic Pontiff urged media agencies to avoid “rage-baiting” and “to act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing.”
While “rage-bait” is a modern idiom, the comportment is an ancient spiritual snare rooted in provocation and the exploitation of sinful anger. Consequently, a Christian response may include three scripturally based perspectives: (1) theological, (2) pastoral, and (3) personal.
Theologically, the word “rage-bait” is deemed spiritually treacherous because it deliberately injures the “flesh” rather than uplifts the spirit. As Chrysostom warns, the tactic’s primary goal is to “stir up strife,” and “sow division.” “Rage-baiting” deliberately provokes anger that leads to sin (Matthew 18:6). Finally, because it often relies on twisted truths or misinformation to ensure engagement, it is viewed as an “abomination” under the biblical mandate for absolute truthfulness (Proverbs 12:22).
Pastorally, individuals are encouraged to adopt a “purposeful pause” before reacting. Believers are urged to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19). Prudence would suggest practicing restraint by “walking away,” and/or “not clicking.” Leaders should, nonetheless, help their respective followers to distinguish between righteous indignation (anger at actual injustice) and “rage-bait” (manufactured outrage for clicks), noting that “anger does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).
Finally, the personal perspective would suggest the use of online tools such as Block-Site and DF-Tube to block specific keywords, disable autoplay, and hide distracting video recommendations. In the final analysis, the personal perspective would encourage the development of “digital resilience,” the healthy self-discipline of limiting scrolling and actively curating online feeds toward content that inspires beauty and delight rather than material that engages neural pathways that enflame anger (Philippians 4:8).
In 1965, Paul Harvey, broadcasted a commentary entitled, “If I Were the Devil.” The essay outlined the strategies the devil would use to destroy the next generation.” While his statements were deemed outlandish 60 years ago, it is amazing to recognize how accurately the noted American radio host “prophesied” what the future spiritual condition of the United States would look like today!
Apart from whispering to the young that “the Bible is a myth,” a major portion of Harvey’s commentary suggested that the devil would “convince them that man created God instead of the other way around.” He would additionally “encourage families, churches, and nations to war with themselves, until each in its turn was consumed.” Harvey predicted that “within a decade the devil would have prisons overflowing, judges promoting pornography, God evicted from the courthouse and schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress.” Satan would finally “make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a liquor bottle. In other words,” Harvey concluded, “if I were the devil . . . I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.”
Astonishingly, when recently prompted, ChatGPT provided similar advice. “If I were the devil,” the algorithm suggested, “my approach would be subtle, long-term, and psychological. I wouldn’t focus on dramatic or flashy actions, but instead on things that slowly erode the foundations of a generation’s well-being, causing them to become divided, distracted, and disillusioned.”
The highly advanced AI chatbot continued by emphasizing the need to advance “rage-bait strategies to amplify existing social divisions, whether political, racial, or ideological, through misinformation and manipulation. I’d create an environment where people see each other as enemies, rather than fellow humans with different perspectives. The more divided society becomes,” the algorithm resolved, “the weaker it gets.”
In a remarkable twist, ChatGPT concluded its list of malevolent tactics with its own self-generated prompt. “Instead of asking what the devil should do to destroy the next generation,” it suggested, “you may want to protect the next generation, by prioritizing deep work, face-to-face community, objective truth, and the cultivation of radical personal responsibility. In 2025,” it concluded, “the next generation must develop ‘digital resilience,’ a multi-layered approach across digital, environmental, mental health, and economic sectors.”
It is noteworthy, that the word “rage” forms the center portion of the word “tragedy,” one of three principal theatrical genres (comedy and satyr) that originated in Ancient Greece to explore many themes of human nature. Derived from the Greek word (τραγῳδία) meaning “goat song,” performers wore goatskins to connect their mournful, ritualistic performances to goat-like characteristics. While “getting someone’s goat” is a common idiom used to express annoying or infuriating results, a “rage-bait goat,” is a contemporary TikToK term that denotes tactics or online provocateurs that deliberately incite anger (get one’s goat) through extreme, offensive, or nonsensical statements.
As humanity enters the stage of another quarter century, we would be wise to consider AI’s advice and help the next generation of cybercitizens mitigate the possibility of becoming goats in an age of rage!
Dr. Frank Marangos is CEO and Founder of OINOS Educational Consulting. He received a Doctors Degree in Adult Education (Ed.D.) from NOVA Southeastern University (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and a Doctorate in Ministry and Childhood Education (D.Min.) from Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX). He is also a Certified Charitable Estate Planner (FCEP).
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