It's a difficult point to articulate, but I think the best distinction I can come up with is that a vent takes the listener and their feelings into account in a way that a toxic waste-dump doesn't - and by feelings, I mean both individual context/history and emotional energy.
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I also think (additional hot take incoming) that the parallel rise in salt as thing to indulge in and share, again often in the same sort of semi-separate space, is fuelling the unconscious idea that giving in to our worst mental impulses and petty jealousies is cool and fun.
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Like, not to go to deep on the synonym-slang angle, but salt is a condiment you use *sparingly* - too much of it ruins the meal, and as an accident with a salt-shaker and my uncle's otherwise excellent bolognese can attest, too TOO much will literally make a person sick.
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I'm not saying don't vent to your friends. I'm not even saying that having dark, angry thoughts about stuff is bad or makes you a bad person. But when you share those gremlin-thoughts, you *need* to acknowledge them as such, or show willing to have them labelled by others.
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Because if not, you're taking advantage of a social covenant - Arguing With The Venter Makes You An Asshole - to spew your own toxic gremlins onto others, thereby causing upset to the people who are trying to help you feel better.
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