# How to handle persecution

Persecution is when [a large group](groups-large.md) is unfairly abusing and punishing a person whose ideas don't match that group.

- It can be [religious](religion.md) or [political](politics-systems.md), but it can also simply be [legal](legal-doctrines.md) or [in the course of business](business.md).
- With newer [information technology](computers.md), persecution can also come through a social media mob or smear campaign.

There are only a few ways a large organization can abuse you:

- The lightest form of it is through trying to publicly shame you, often via [propaganda](stories-storytellers.md).
  - They'll often [lie](people-lying.md) about you, typically with clever half-truths that require in-depth explanation to unravel.
  - In a social media mob, this is the most likely thing they'll do.
- When their propaganda and shame don't work, they'll use physical and psychological abuse to break down your willpower.
  - In social media mobs and *highly* powerful governments, this will usually involve death threats or demonstrations of violence.
- At the most extreme, they'll publicly kill people to make an example to others.
  - However, because of the media attention, modern tyrants tend to quietly send people to "re-education centers" and torture people into converting, then kill them if they don't.

As much as possible, try to stay alive:

- Barring [a Christian faith that treats persecution as a blessing](hardship-persecution-church.md), surviving is crucial to fighting back.
- Even if they torture or dismember you, your life is still incredibly valuable, and it's worth holding on to.
- Find others who share your values and learn [guerilla tactics](people-conflicts-war.md) that can help you stand a chance.
  - Even when you're incarcerated together, you have a chance to collude against the authorities if you're patient and [creative](mind-creativity.md).
- The most significant means of fighting back is raising [awareness](awareness.md) among everyone else about the injustices.
  - If people have been [heavily indoctrinated](culture-cults.md) or are very [afraid](mind-feelings-fear.md), your ideas will be a trend that may only become powerful *after* you've become a martyr for the cause.

If you have the means, flee the country:

- Your [culture](people-culture.md) isn't how the entire world lives, and the struggles won't stop until you find peace.
- While you may feel you're abandoning those you love, nothing says you have to *stay* away from them.
  - Consider your flight as a type of "regrouping" so you can safely extract others from the tyranny.

No matter how much everyone is persecuted, justice still matters:

- When a government does things wrongly, they stand against truth and [justice](morality-justice.md), even if they successfully hide what they do.
  - An organization that performs [evil](morality-evil.md) rarely has devoted, fanatical followers compared to organizations that do good in the world, so they don't last as long.
- [Give over control to God](spiritual-exercises-prayer.md), then push forward in what you know to be true.