Matt Tilmann
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thread 1/9
Poet and writer Joseph Brodsky on how to deal with the critics, detractors, and negative influences in your life:

"Try not to pay attention to those who will try to make life miserable for you. There will be a lot of those — in the official capacity as well as the self-appointed.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
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thread 2/9
Suffer them if you can't escape them, but once you have steered clear of them, give them the shortest shrift possible. Above all, try to avoid telling stories about the unjust treatment you received at their hands; avoid it no matter how receptive your audience may be.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
A
thread 3/9
Tales of this sort extend the existence of your antagonists; most likely they are counting on your being talkative and relating your experience to others.

By himself, no individual is worth an exercise in injustice (or for that matter, in justice).
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
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thread 4/9
The ratio of one-to-one doesn't justify the effort: it's the echo that counts. That's the main principle of any oppressor, whether state-sponsored or autodidact.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
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thread 5/9
Therefore, steal, or still, the echo, so that you don't allow an event, however unpleasant or momentous, to claim any more time than it took for it to occur.

What your foes do derives its significance or consequence from the way you react.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
A
thread 6/9
Therefore, rush through or past them as though they were yellow and not red lights. Don't linger on them mentally or verbally; don't pride yourself on forgiving or forgetting them — worse come to worse, do the forgetting first.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
A
thread 7/9
This way you'll spare your brain cells a lot of useless agitation; this way, perhaps, you may even save those pigheads from themselves, since the prospect of being forgotten is shorter than that of being forgiven.
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
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thread 8/9
So flip the channel: you can't put this network out of circulation, but at least you can reduce its ratings."
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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Matt Tilmann
A
thread 9/9
Source: On Grief and Reason
05:47 PM - Apr 11, 2024
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