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by iamflimflam1 15 days ago
Early on in my career I wrote a highly critical email - I asked a coworker for his opinion before I sent.

He said “there’s just one thing that would improve this” and hit the delete button.

That intervention saved me, and everyone I was working with, from a lot of unnecessary stress.

Venting is great - get it out of your system. Then take a deep breath, go for a walk, and then decide what to do.

2 comments

Abraham Lincoln used to write angry letters and stow them away, unsigned and unsent [1]. The book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" claims he stopped harshly criticizing people publicly after being challenged to a duel [2] by a government official he had attacked anonymously in the press.

1. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/lincolns-...

2. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/abraham-lincolns...

The problem is if everyone does this then nothing gets done and everything burns down and everyone dies. Okay, a little hyperbolic.

But assholes know how to get things done, they just do. If everyone becomes a bystander, then 100% of all decisions will be made by the absolute bottom of the barrel of humanity. I'm talking sub-human morally inept fundamentally evil people.

We're already kinda there, and maybe my phrasing here is harsh, but it's true. We've all seen what happens when you let the mad king be mad. It might be pleasant and peaceful for a while, but ultimately it is "your problem". Eventually the madness touches YOU, and now what?