Dwelling In Overwhelming Negativity

I spend a lot of time looking at insincere social media accounts on the major platforms.  They range from what looks to be temporarily misguided accounts that might actually come around if they can get over a few stumbling points to ones that are fairly obviously only existing to spread a wide array of blatant disinformation.

The first of those - I don’t spend a lot of time with.  And that’s a personality fault (cognitive bias) of mine I just can’t seem to get over.  I just can’t seem to muster the energy to spend on trying to help someone that refuses to do actual research on their own, while claiming they are searching through content “researching on their own”.  Yes, years on dwelling in overwhelming negativity can bring a buzz kill to even some of the happiest battles won.

The accounts mired in overwhelming negativity - my Dunning-Kruger (more personal cognitive bias problems) leads me to judge as “guilty until proven innocent”.  Which is a terrible attitude to have.  I would inevitably word something the wrong way trying to help the followers of these incorrectly.  Which is also a terrible thing.  What a lot (and a mean A LOT, like a gazillion metric bitch tons A LOT) of people don’t get is that the counterattack is the desired outcome.  They want to give newbie cult members a convenient target to “debate”.  Which is inevitably a logical fallacy shit fest that creates more background noise while the adults are trying to have an actual debate on an actually debatable topic.  The easiest example from recent history - “Viruses don’t exist”.  There’s far more content that simply makes that statement than even bothers to try putting up a coherent not already thoroughly debunked basis for the claim.

Since I have the experience I do, and if you want a tip I have some tests.  There are things I’ve already mentioned.  Is this person being a hypocrite?  Like do you drop zeroes in gematria like you claim is a rule or leave them in when it suits you?  Are you a “Christian Nationalist” sitting in Congress, espousing how nothing is more important than family values and you are getting a divorce?  Did you talk up how great the Covid researcher is on your radio show, only to later in the pandemic take Ivermectin and give one of the big name purveyors of  vaccine misinformation a platform, talking up how great they are?  Etc….

But I have a new not before mentioned on here test.  I call it the dog test.  Somewhere between the possibly salvageable and “won’t ever shut up because their job is disinformation account”, there is something that usually puts up political info.  They clearly establish they are a real person, using their actual name, show pictures of themselves at political rallies.  Share good mornings with everyone that pops up on their time line.  But they dwell in overwhelming negativity.  There are no puppies.  There’s never, “I had a rough morning, the dog puked on the carpet.”  There’s no, “Oh I’m so sorry!  Send me a picture when he’s better.”  There’s no idle chit chat about the weather, the kids, sports teams.  But I like the dog example the best.

These accounts exist to boost likes and followers to give illusion to actual support of the ideas.  The ideas don’t have much value.  The idea is usually something meaningless like “Fuck you, liberal assholes!!”  That gets 250 likes and 20 retweets the first hour it’s up on Twitter.  The advantage to operating an account such as this - You can’t censor my content you evil social media bastards, I’m a real person!  The downside, you are only playing the Alex Jones elicit an emotional response for engagement game.  And if you are following such an account you have put up a red flag that you are dwelling in overwhelming negativity and you’ll never get a puppy. At least one that you’d treat right.  Pretending to have empathy when you don’t is too much of a burden long term.  The same thing exists in the workplace where dishonest and/of narcissistic folks don’t have patience to maintain the charade beyond a three month probationary period after hiring.

Now go to your local rescue and get a dog or a cat.  Do NOT get a red panda.  They will just pretend to be your friend while plotting against you as they dwell in their overwhelming negativity.