Here’s a tiresome thing when some bad shit happens: when people unaffected by it actually spend their precious time and energy to voluntarily discourage anybody who speaks up about it– saying things are worse elsewhere, that you should be grateful, be quiet, or take heroic action.
this is a highly predictable response from people who are fascinatingly hyperinvested in preserving the status quo (which, of course, serves them just fine). It makes them *so* uncomfortable when people get to talking about change, or even daring to express unauthorised emotions.
Having spent 20 yrs online I have encountered a neverending stream of these volunteer soldiers for the status quo, and I have experimented with all kinds of responses to their tedious nonsense. through trial & error I have figured out what I think is the optimal strat for dealing.
The main thing to understand is that they are trying to wear you down & discourage you, and the thing to do in response is to absolutely refuse to be discouraged. Often times completely ignoring them, blocking, etc is the right move.
What I like to do is to basically ignore the content of their message entirely, and respond with more of my own stuff – which is to say, give THEM homework to do. They’re trying to waste your time, use it as a marketing opportunity for what you think deserves attention
Kpop stans are masters of this and I respect it. You insult them and they reply “so true bestie, anyway stream <favorite artist>”. And it is with that sort of relentless unbotheredness that they punch above their weight as a collective. Keep the end goal in mind
the weakness of the status quo soldier is he has no strategic vision. his strategy is to say “Shut up! Shut up!!! Shut up!!!!!” – that’s his entire strategy. And if you respond with the generous trickster spirit of “ah, I see you are a fan. Here’s more!” He ends up serving you. (this does take some emotional nimbleness, which you might not have if you’re talking about difficult and painful things. In which case just block immediately, really. do not engage unless you know how your next move serves your end-game.)
the strength of the status quo soldier is simplicity and persistence. since their persistence is grounded in a love for the present (really a fear of the future), they can keep going indefinitely. you have to face the truth of this if you wanna be a make a real dent in problems
(of course, you’re not *obliged* to try and “make a dent in problems”. I’m speaking specifically to people who want to be more strategic actors here. if you have a long-term vision you can use short-term dunderheads as springboards)
I’ll close with some encouragement: status quo soldiers may succeed on the scale of days, weeks, months, maybe a few years. but they always fail on the scale of decades. change seems unlikely until it seems inevitable. when someone discourages you, use that anger to encourage a friend.