Acceptable targets

Hanging out with someone who always speaks their mind is a strange experience for me.

We were talking about people we know, and poking innocent fun at them, but then it got really heavy. Talking about one guy's self-centred attitude, another's annoying speech patterns, another's problems with someone else... I called him on it a few times, but it kept going back to this really heavy shit.

I said to him, "I wonder what you say when I'm not around" and he said
"Nah, I don't say much. You don't have as many issues as those guys"

That kinda blew my mind. He went on to say how I'm well rounded and just overall more calm than the others. I'm not really sure why that means he can say these mean things about the others, maybe he can only make fun of people who are easy targets. But the way he said it made it sound like they were acceptable targets because of their issues.

Ultimately, what he said is harmless, but only because he didn't say it to them. Though, now I do wonder what he says about me when I'm not around. Probably something about how quiet I am. I don't give people much fodder for this stuff.