Practical Advice For Living in CA and Dealing With Hysterical People

Know the terrain. There are three scenarios: power is equal, you have power, they have power. Each situation requires different tactics. 

Power is Equal:

-Intelligent Mockery. Hysterics do not like being humiliated and humor puts them in their place.

-Active protest. Voice your concerns. Be heard. Be rational. Don't lose cool because they will.

They Have Power:

-Passive resistance. In Iran, women have stopped wearing the hijab. If they can do it, so can you. Don't wear the ribbon. This was the dumb mistake Scott Adams made this weekend by voicing publicly what he knew would give the powers-that-be the excuse they wanted to cancel Dilbert. This was unbelievably dumb. My 7 year old son reads and likes Dilbert. Adams was building a new generation of fans by being in the newspaper everyday and he ruined it because he couldn't read the situation. What an incredible unforced error by a guy who has an important voice in our culture right now. Everyone can now just dismiss him as a racist. Foolish.

-Look for a way to gain leverage. Spots will open up if you watch the landscape. Take them. And then move into the position of power.

You Have the Power:

-Don't let the fox in the henhouse. Control the discourse. Use the word "no." Set boundaries. Frame discussions through non-hysterical and rational lenses. Maintain the leverage. Never trust them. But do not thumb your nose and weaken your position as they will take it from you. Maintain position because you can win a war of attrition. The people in the middle will come to your side. Don't give them an excuse to go over. 

-Do not let them get power over you or you will need to go back to passive resistance.