Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

At my most optimistic, I would say that there is value in trying to understand where people are coming from, regardless of how unpleasant I find them. I am admittedly not at my most optimistic--despite a stance since an openly racist sexual predator was elected to the highest office in the land of not consuming much in the way of media in an effort to maintain my sanity and ride it out, I got into a very unpleasant conversation on social media with someone who I think I mostly agree with who was chastising me for fear mongering regarding a desperately unqualified man become head of HHS despite Nobel Laureates, actual men and women of science, begging for that to not happen. So optimism is low, shall we say. This is a series of linked stories about people who are isolated, unpopular, and through their association with others with similar issues have convinced themselves that anyone but themselves are to blame and rather than try to figure out what they could do to make themselves happier, they externalize that blame and ramp up their anger. I see this in my professional life more frequently than I care to, and I do not need to read about it.