The Sentinel-Intelligence

The Sentinel-Intelligence

Share this post

The Sentinel-Intelligence
The Sentinel-Intelligence
Here's Why You Get Punished for Trying to Protect Everyone You Care About.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Here's Why You Get Punished for Trying to Protect Everyone You Care About.

Even if you're a doomer.

Jessica's avatar
Jessica
Nov 30, 2023
∙ Paid

Share this post

The Sentinel-Intelligence
The Sentinel-Intelligence
Here's Why You Get Punished for Trying to Protect Everyone You Care About.
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share
Woman staring at burning city.
Cristiano Venti

There's a lot going on, and you want to talk about it.

Unfortunately, nobody else does.

You probably get punished for trying to warn your friends and family about all the threats we're facing. You try to plan for an uncertain future. You do your best to protect everyone around you. It's a lot of heavy lifting, especially when you're the only one who seems to care.

In return, you get dismissed and made fun of, or worse. You get ridiculed, threatened, patronized, and pathologized. Almost everyone you know has learned to equate caution with "panic" and "doomscrolling." Increasingly, activists and whistleblowers get blamed for the problems they point out and told they're making everything worse, just for being honest.

What's going on?

Psychologists have a term for the backlash aimed at doomers.

It's called spontaneous trait transference.

According to John Skowronsky and Donal Carlston, spontaneous trait transference happens when "communicators are perceived as possessing the very …

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Jessica Wildfire
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More