Life is harder for some than others. If this sounds like

kindness, and clear-eyed understanding, would be in order? Lots of us have a bit of this tendency, but some may too much for their or anyone else's good, and these grim times just accentuate it. This tendency has to be combated by able people, but not with pointless back-and-forth arguments with those whose convictions are just reinforced by resistance.  

“As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the ____ is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated–if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the ____ directs his attention.

This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals,and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the _____'s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.” 

â�� Richard Hofstadter