(Feel free to distribute this; not just by boosting, but by republishing elsewhere, etc.)

I'll probably do more posts in this theme at some point, but let's start with a pretty common issue: arguing the status quo.

If you see someone complaining about society or the world around them, *do not* reply with an explanation of "how society works" or anything along those lines.

This includes responses talking about "social contracts", "that's how we've decided to ____", "companies have to make money too", and so on, and so forth. Anything that basically repeats the narrative of how society is "supposed" to work.

The person you're talking to is living in the same world as you! They are already aware of how things work, and they experience it first-hand every day; it is very likely the exact thing that they are complaining about!

"Explaining" something to them that they already understand while ignoring their criticism is extremely patronizing, and it communicates that you don't actually care about their issue, you're just looking for a way to convince yourself that it doesn't exist, by repeating how you think it's *supposed* to work.

So, instead of assuming that someone must be clueless and lacking in a basic understanding of society, trade, politics, or whatever... consider that they understand it extremely well, possibly better than you do, and are criticizing it for a very good reason. There's probably some issue with it that you are unaware of.

And if you want to better understand what that issue is, don't challenge them on it, don't debate them on it; just *ask* about it. Ask a good-faith, non-combative, open-ended question. Take the time to learn from someone who has spotted an issue that you didn't.