They're the tragic heroes that nobody cares about.
If you read my previous article about the Phantom of the Opera, then you probably remember me stating that there was "something interesting about the formula used to complain" about one of the pictures. Well, this formula that I noticed will be discussed here while you learn about a subcategory of the Phantom of the Opera, the Martyr.
I'm sure most of you have met at least one martyr in your lifetime. They're always complaining about how bad their lives are and the atrocious things they've gone through, like having a friend tell them they're fat. How dare they tell them that they're overweight when they clearly are! But then they have just a speck of hope how intrepid they are for enduring such a hateful comment.
Martyrs can be found on any social networking website where the user can easily add everyone they know. Since the martyrs loves attention, they usually post frequently so that at least 10 of their 300+ friends like what they say. For this convenience of this article, I'll use "Jan" as an example of a martyr.
Look at how positive Jan is! You can clearly see that she loves her life by the insipid quote and the comment about taking an Epsom salt bath with wine (who cares about how you bathe?)! But don't be fooled by the martyr's overzealous demeanour, as most of them are actually malcontent about their lives. Evidence for this can be found by the infrequent tepid post on the braggart's Facebook profile, where they complain about how bad their life is, but they're "still looking forward" to something. Their posts usually follow the strict pattern of "Negative-Positive", in order to keep the reader from realising that their friend is a martyr.
What is the Negative-Positive" rule, you ask? The Negative-Positive rule is: If you are to post a negative comment, there must always be a subsequent positive comment. The martyr uses this to make themself seem more happy-go-lucky than they actually are.
Some examples of the "negative-positive" rule are:
Notice the intermittent length of the negative comments and how the negative comment is usually short. The reason for this is because there is a sub-rule to the Negative-Positive rule which states: Keep the negative comment shorter than the positive comment; longer negative comments will only add to the suspicion. Without this rule, there would be no positive comment to alleviate the negativity of the post, and the comment will sound as negative as the post in the first picture.
The best way to get rid of a martyr is to cut contact with them. It may seem harsh, but they only leech onto people who will give them the attention they want. Don't worry about it too much though, they'll always find someone to give them attention.