From a chat on Matrix, where it seems it was one of my more coherent moments: 🤪

… Why can’t they just be individuals? Individuals with their own individual beliefs and their own individual reasons for having those beliefs…

And so just default to a stance of respect and courtesy. The fact is, most of your interactions with others will be very limited; approaching those encounters from a place of respect for the complexities of the human mind and an individual’s experiences and traumas costs you very little, typically.

To be human is to generalise, but that doesn’t mean you can’t push back against those tendencies.

…

Well, in the context of chat, it would be something like you’ve just done: don’t put words in my mouth, based on my avatar, nick, grammar, etc., and instead ask me to elaborate on points of potential confusion.

And don’t bring agendas to everything. Default to assuming that this is likely an interaction of hours, and people don’t change based on that, typically.

You’ll probably get more from interactions that you’re open to, but, be honest with yourself: if you aren’t up to that, because it isn’t easy, then just default to respect and courtesy, which isn’t difficult, and costs you little. And then excuse yourself, if they’re proper jerks. ;-)