How to work with your response to people with a chip on their shoulder?

On social media I try not to follow people who show hostility at all. I think there are two kinds of people on Mastodon: ones who have a list of people they don't want to follow on their profile and ones who don't. I certainly have a list, but I keep it to myself.

There are a few people I follow who do express some hostility who I make an exception for because I really value them, the same way that I take some crap from my friends, family, co-workers and such. I don't usually tell them directly that they're on that list but I might tell them what I just told you.

What exactly are you asking about? Reading blogs where the author is explaining some issue that makes them angry?

Some things are worth being hostile to. For example, I don't see how one can read or talk about the war in Ukraine, without becoming extremely angry at Putin and fervently wishing to see his regime brought down.

But it is not healthy to spend all of your life angry, so you might pick and choose a couple of things you care about (especially if you can take action), and mostly try to tune out the rest. Unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise, I wouldn't look for a workaround, I'd rather either engage with someone as they are or not pay attention.

If someone is hostile to you, then except in rare circumstances I'm not sure I'd recommend engaging with them at all.