That kind of situation definitely irritates me too. I'm in a somewhat similar kind of position...one friend of mine constantly badmouths anything he can think of, and for a long time I'd go along with it feeling "pulled in" but then I realized that wasn't how I wanted to be. Since just listening to him started irritating me to no end I chose to stop being in that type of situation, however recently due to mutual friends it's becoming inconvenient to avoid this person. SOO I'm left trying to figure out how to deal with social outings when this person is involved. I wonder if it's just possible to steer the overall conversation away from insults/gossip...still looking for a way.
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