This article is ah-maz-ing

I can't believe the Boston Globe published it: "Being a progressive activist made me miserable - I experienced the left-right happiness gap firsthand. Then I realized that ‘being part of the solution’ doesn’t require being part of a political tribe."

Long story short: a former liberal finds that her mental health improves when she rejects inflexible liberal doxology that makes agency impossible:

In the communications training sessions I lead, I regularly warn clients against manipulating audiences through fear and anger — for example, by mislabeling reasonable objections as “bigotry.” Not only does this poison public discourse, it sabotages campaigners’ own mental health. I speak from experience here.

The belief that entrenched, identity-based socioeconomic systems dictate most of our life outcomes fosters what psychologists call an external locus of control, which is associated with poorer mental health. That’s because such narratives make us feel powerless to change our lives.

This is the grift of race hucksters like Al Sharpton and Ibram X. Kendi: helplessness is a feature, not a bug.