Some good advice about advice:
Once upon a time, when western people lived in communities and had a vague idea of what was going on in each other’s lives, perhaps unsolicited advice worked. At least the knowledge of local resources would have been relevant, and knowledge of the context helpful. Express any kind of difficulty in any area of your life on social media and a bunch of self proclaimed well meaning people will pile in and tell you what to do about it.
I have learned, the hard way, that if I just want people to cut me some slack and send me pictures of kittens, it is best to be vague about the problem and specific about the kittens. Well meaning advice from people who do not know my history, circumstances or hopes is at best, usually useless. Often it’s also demoralising, and counterproductive. The more aggressively/enthusiastically it’s pushed, the more uncomfortable it…
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