Toxic people don’t need to be confronted.
They need to be made bored.
They avoid people who don’t give them leverage.
People who don’t reward attention-seeking.
People who don’t gossip or trade information.
People who don’t react to sly digs disguised as humour.
They thrive on drama because drama creates access.
If you stay out of it, they stop bringing it to you.
They push boundaries to see who will fold.
Quiet refusal is often enough to end the game.
And they target validation seekers most of all —
because approval is easy to ration and control.
Toxic people don’t disappear when you fight them.
They disappear when there’s nothing to extract.