Every time you laugh at a joke you hate, you rent out a little piece of yourself.

The laugh is automatic and costs nothing in the moment, which is exactly why it slips past you. It still registers as agreement, both with you and with the person telling it. Do that often enough and you have become the audience for something you find ugly, and the teller has every reason to keep going, since you handed over the signal.

Try not laughing once this week. No lecture, no confrontation, just a neutral face and a change of subject. It is a small silence, it lands, and it costs far less than going along with it again.