I think back to the most unbelievable episodes in my life where I was treated just awfully by people and I suppose it was primarily the result of people mistakenly judging me very negatively.

I've been treated like a criminal a few times. But without a trial, without ever being told what I even supposedly did wrong. I had my scientific career destroyed on this basis. Escorted out without explanation and blacklisted without ever finding out why.

I recall an episode that happened to me when I was 13 where the way an adult treated me just boggles the mind (a school teacher). In both cases, I guess what happened is these people got some evil notion into their heads about me. And were absolutely sure they were right.

With respect to the just about uniform indifference I've received in my life (such as everyone gets) I figure it's a matter of caution. Every person is a potential danger. Who knows, maybe I'm an awful person?

This is how it is for everyone. We're all not very good at judging the character of people and so we err on the side of assuming the worst. You may not survive being wrong even a single time about someone. So we err towards the worst assumptions. We view people with suspicion. We aren't open with them. Most often we give them indifference at best. Guilty till proven innocent, (and why bother proving that?)

I walk towards a dog to pet it and stumble, suddenly this dog (which was previously friendly) thinks I'm attacking and bites me on the knee. Ever after it barks and growls viciously when I walk by.

People default to racism because they're so bad at judging who's really a threat to them.

We keep our shields up and keep people out. Some people go their whole lives this way unable to really let anyone in, some get married and still manage to stay this way.

And when we do mistakenly assume some negative thing, the ugliness just bounces back and forth growing with each bounce. Personally I think most of my negative thoughts about people are the direct result of them jumping to awful conclusions about me.

This awful awful article: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/8-toxic-personalities-to-avoid-461078/
which I think was written by Satan himself, is urging people to go ahead and assume the worst of people. It says they're probably too closeminded for you to even bother talking about whatever it is they're doing that bothers you. So don't even bother. Just dismiss them as toxic human beings.

I suppose there is a point where you've got to give up on someone. I too have done so. But that point of course should be after you've repeatedly attempted to talk to them about such issues. My personal experience has been almost without exception that people instead just dismiss the person as "toxic" without ever talking about the disagreement; just like that article advocates.

I suppose there are certainly endless closeminded people in this world. And people are less likely to talk to an imposing, intimidating man when they've got differences. Perhaps I just can never really understand how full of fear people are and how attacked they feel if someone criticizes them?