“Leftism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might have an opinion different from their own.”
An overall tendency toward negative emotions.
Feels of anxiety or irritability. Poor emotional stability.
Feelings of self-doubt.
Being self-conscious.
Experiencing moodiness, sadness, or depression.
Easily stressed or upset; unable to handle stress well.
Dramatic changes in feelings.
CS Lewis wrote, in THE pilgrim’s Regress, of people addicted to misery.
This is really a thing.
Some people are so twisted up inside that they just cannot feel their version of happy unless they think they have some reason to be resentful, angry or just plain old unhappy and put upon.
This is equally true if it’s something they feel on their own account or if they feel it vicariously for others, judging themselves able to think what ought to offend others and upset them based on some crude metric, some externality or check box they’ve checked on some list.
Oh, and people of that description who don’t feel that way? They aren’t really that thing ... but are things like white of the inside or what have you.
When you offend the perpetually offended, those who are addicted to being offended and miserable, and they tell you you’ve offended them, just smile and say “You’re welcome!” and maybe toss in a “Glad I could offend you.”
Don’t bother even caring that they are offended, because really they are likely a form of happier bring offended that they would be not being offended.
Offend them more if it’s not something disagreeable to you.
Like free speech, keeping groomers and pedos away from kids, fighting crime, making living affordable, etc.
Problem is Misery loves company and they get their kicks making everyone else miserable too.
They are communists.
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When you always seek the lowest common denominator, you eventually get to the bototm of the barrel.
I had to break ties with a college roommate after 50+years of "friendship," over her constant, ill-informed nagging about leftist grudges. There were years of eye-rolling rudenesses over politics, but here's an example of one of the thousand paper cuts that ripped it for me:
One day she asked me to pick her up from a meeting. She came out of the building bringing an older transgender woman with her and asked if I would also drive that person home, to which I said, "Sure," simply because my long-time friend had asked me. I worked in the arts all my adult life, and was not in the least alarmed. My extra passenger said little but seemed angry and wary; I asked "her" courteously for directions, and made one or two brief pleasant comments about the weather during the 10-minute ride.
Afterward, my liberal friend and I went out to dinner. Out of nowhere she began ranting about how hateful Christians are to gays and especially transgender people, looking at me accusingly. Later, I realized that when her trans acquaintance said she needed a ride, my friend had probably warned that I might treat her rudely—because I'm a Christian.
Negative projection as the basis for scolding had become typical from my old friend, even though I had done nothing to deserve it. Just the opposite, in fact. A normal person would have said, "Thanks for giving her a ride." Or even, "I wasn't sure how you'd feel, but I thought you might be okay with it, and you were—so, thanks."
But no.