Dissent

A dissenting voice emerges, taking many by surprise. That dissenting voice if often projected by someone who doesn’t have many friends. Someone that is prone to falling out with lots of people. They hold a grudge and won’t shift their mindset. Forgiveness is out of the question. Many things cause dissent. Feeling slighted perhaps. Sometimes it stems from believing that we have what it takes to be in someone else’s position. We could do just a good a job - if only our talents were not overlooked. Descent can arise from the belief that someone is getting undeserved attention and too much respect.

Most of us let things go. We let people be. We understand that no one is perfect. We admire those that achieve a lot. We do jostle for position but won’t tear someone down simply because we don’t like their views. We debate with them instead and build our own following. A dissenter is a different beast. They take issue with something you said perhaps, or something you have done. Lots of reasons, mainly trivial. Once dissent starts it often builds relentlessly. Dissenters enlist others to help attack you. They will turn anything positive about you into a negative.

If Simon is known for charity work, they will reframe his good work as something Simon is doing simply to make himself look good. To the dissenter Simon's success in life was all luck. Simon's popularity is misplaced, bought rather than earned. Everything Simon does shall be seen in a negative light. All positives are viewed with cynicism. It only takes one small thing to spark dissent. One thing about Simon that we don’t like. One thing that he said. One thing taken the wrong way. One misinterpretation. Whether trivial or not, that thing will mar all else that Simon does. From then on, the dissenter questions why Simon should count more than me. Why listen to Simon when my views should always take centre stage. When a dissenter is in the presence of Simon, they don’t like to see people listening to him. The moment he appears to be getting an audience they will intervene and say this is boring. Saying the topic is boring is a good way to halt the conversation or at least spoil the flow. Whether people are finding it boring or not is beside the point. They don’t want to be seen listening to something that could be viewed as such.

Most of us won’t pay a great deal of attention to what Simon does, nor care about what he may have said or not said. We don’t care that much as we have more than enough of our own things to contend with. We understand that Simon may not be a saint but see him as a decent sort. However, whereas the majority get on with their lives and continue making pleasantries with Simon, the dissenter will try and turn people against him. They will sway others in earnest. A true dissenter will make it their life’s work to defame Simon and make him appear as bad as possible.

You the dissenter might decide that giving Simon a wide berth is not befitting you. Instead, you prefer to stir up maximum trouble, as much as you can, by any means at your disposal. Nothing illegal or dastardly, but endless vocal action. You need to do this without compromising your own position. A starting point would be to spread some half-truths. Never give the full story as that will do the opposite of what you want to achieve. Most people who listen to the full story will see Simon in a good light.

Any story can be spun to make Simon seem disingenuous. People can make him appear untrustworthy or make others want to disown him. Not only is the first story people hear believed, but it is invariably remembered most clearly. Even when the full facts have been uncovered there will be an element of doubt in the air. When a slanderous story is published a number of people will read it. However, not all of them will read any correction or apology printed later. Slander tarnishes our image no matter what. It is nice to be proven innocent, but we have our work cut out trying to dispel the lies. Dissenters know this.

Simon may have to be secretive, not because of a desire to be sly, but secretive to protect somebody. He may want to avoid jeopardising a future event. A dissenter sees this secretiveness as bad form rather than appreciate that Simon needed to be discrete. Most be fully understanding when they find out everything that is going on, but Simon will still be marked out as a cagey type by those that didn’t want to find out more and get all sides of the story.

There you are again, trying to dissuade people from talking to Simon using rational/irrational, emotive arguments - anything you can think off to get people to go along with you. Some won’t accept your line of reasoning, but that doesn't matter so long as the numbers grow. Some people can be swayed quite easily but others will take much more persuasion. A dissenter will keep it going, enlisting the adage of no smoke without fire. They must prevent Simon from dousing your nonsense with a cold bucket of truth.

A new member of your group can change the dynamic. We liked it how it was before. Some members don’t like the competition. This can be one of many things that seed dissent. It will hinge on something being dislikeable. Certain aspects of Simon do not fit with our built-in preferences. It matters not one jot if the person whom you are gunning for is a laudable individual. All attributes are switched to negative. It goes further than name calling and derogatory remarks. It is a long grind of disapproval. A dissenter will seek every avenue to find a justification for their probing and aggravation. Things that Simon has done are magnified beyond belief. Most would not pay any serious attention to it were it not for the effort the dissenter has gone to spread falsehoods. Milking something small and making it seem important is a dissenter’s primary tactic. Having hate in their heart will not bother them in the slightest. Dissenters feed off the reaction to their attack. Simply ignoring it is not always possible. A story is half told, facts distorted, blatant untruths banded about. This can become an irritation. So, Simon needs a solution. Showing annoyance makes it worse.

There are lots of moves in card games and board games that you can try. To each of these moves there will be a counter move. Bluffing can work until someone calls your bluff and take the pot down. In life there will be something you can do too, to counter what people are doing. One solid option is to embrace the dissenter, have them be your personal troll. Trolls boost your rankings and ratings. All great people will have trolling dissenters, gathering more as their ubiquity rises. Does poking fun in return make the situation worse? Does thanking them for their input help? Can we maintain our composure. Do we simply put the record straight when it really matters, rather than at every twist and turn. This can be hard, particularly when you do not even know who the perpetrator is. If it escalates and turns threatening it is harder still. Simon chose to take control, responding to the avalanche of vitriol. However, Simon replied once a day – only once per day. Simon knew that ignoring the fool would not work. If Simon fed them nothing, they got hungry and the anger level rose. As the days turned into weeks the single daily response melted the snow.

I gained a few trolls along the way for one simple reason. I told people the truth. The truth along with a solution can be most useful to them, but they did not like me for it. Hence why so many of us are inclined to tell white lies or keep their mouths shut.