Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Lucy's avatar

“I don’t know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?”

— Charles Bukowski

Expand full comment
Kathleen Sykes's avatar

“We see these themes everywhere. Individuals wish to show to others that they are virtuous. They choose to do so often with harsh condemnation & dissociating from that person. But that decision: the condemnation itself is often counterproductive or even harmful.”

I really appreciate this statement. As a person of faith, for example, I see this play out on a regular basis in religious communities. People feel a need to show off how virtuous they are and that often takes the form of excluding people from the community and making its resources scarce.

The worst part is that the people who don’t check all the boxes that the “virtuous” people don’t are the people who often need those resources the most. In the case of churches: community, spiritual uplift, etc. And in the case of the medical community: actual, life-saving support.

It’s a tragedy we judge people like this.

Expand full comment
5 more comments...

No posts