How many ways do they misinterpret your phrasing, misunderstand your point or misrepresent your intent?

It took me forever to figure out that these weren’t accidents, or misunderstandings, but intentional attempts to “make me wrong” by twisting some element of what I said or did.

At first, I thought I just wasn’t being specific or articulate enough.

After reiterating an important point for the fifteenth time (each time insisting I had never previously shared with them before/never adequately explained) it finally dawned on me that they might actually delight in finding ways for you to keep dancing for them, keep defending, keep explaining yourself.

Eventually, after too many incidents for this to be a coincidence, I came to grasp that in order to be right, they might actually need to make you wrong—even if you’re agreeing with a previous point that they were making.

I’m curious as to what sorts of experiences you have had with this phenomenon.

*edited for typos