That’s the second part. How to avoid covering yourself in grime, to protect yourself. The police offers a ready-made group to give you comfort in your time of need. You’re not like that. You’re better! You’re an officer of the law! You clean up the filth off the streets! You ought to be appreciated! Anyone who doesn’t appreciate you, why, they must be dirty! Here, have a complementary doughnut, courtesy of our nameless sponsors. Don’t ask, don’t tell, yeah?

When in real need, we take the hand of anyone who offers help. Even if in better times, we’d realize it’s full of shit.

Daily repetition is reinforcement. It increases belief and becomes a habit that eventually turns into the default.

When the bad stuff made by random people in similar ways is your daily life, you’ll start asking yourself why and there’s no guarantee you’ll always come to the right conclusion. You distance yourself from what you perceive as bad and form a bias against it. They might not be as bad as you might think, but can you afford to take that chance? The answer isn’t the same for everyone.

Life adapts to its environment. Those which don’t, die off.