Politics is for the gullible.

What is wrong with some people?

I've got a friend of a couple of decades who is in a potentially dangerous situation with her roommate, and she's probably making it worse by dispensing with civility. They both have done so. It's a cold war on the verge of going hot. 

She's not worried about any consequences because she's cocky and because she keeps knives in her room.

She doesn't believe the potentially dangerous person or her friends can do anything to her. So she keeps antagonizing her, and the roommate is doing the same. 

To be clear, neither is innocent in my opinion. Both are doing all they can to poke at the other, making the other person as miserable as possible. The roommate has been using, breaking, and throwing away my friend's property, and picking locks to access my friend's bathroom for her constant stream of visitors to use, and her bedroom to get to kitchen utensils my friend bought and hid to keep from being damaged. 

The other girl has done things unilaterally to raise the rent, and my friend is refusing to pay the higher rent. But also refusing to discuss it or even tell the roommate she's refusing to pay the higher rent. And, still, looking for ways to anger the roommate. Any communication is through passive-aggressive notes left-- and ignored-- around the apartment.

They are refusing to even speak to each other anymore, letting their behavior speak for them. 

I see this leading to a bad situation, maybe even-- I hate to think this way-- murder. And I've warned her. Do you think she listens? Ha. It's almost as though she is enjoying this situation; it seems to energize her. Who knows what the roommate thinks.

She lives hundreds of miles away and there's nothing I can physically do.

I've been in enough sketchy situations over the years that I'm not cocky. I don't try to intentionally antagonize anyone, especially without a clear path away from the situation. I'm not going to assume the other person isn't going to snap if pushed too far. I don't assume they aren't sneaky enough to get the drop on me. I assume they could well have friends who wouldn't draw the line at physical violence they believe would help their friend.

But, it seems some people are dedicated to being stubborn. As happens all the time, I ask myself what is wrong with some people?

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