General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I thought this was interesting about stereotypes. [View all]Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)If the conservative didn't help (even though I would rather keep my distance from most - not all - conservatives, if I could), I wouldn't necessarily hate the conservative if they didn't help me. Same goes for the Obama supporter. I would probably conclude they were late to go somewhere or didn't realize I needed assistance, etc...
The point is, I'm not making character judgements or interaction decisions based purely on minor personal favors or the lack thereof. I don't build entire narratives around people based on what minor politeness they did or failed to do for me. I'm sure Hitler (and, no, I'm not equating conservatives to nazis!) held many doors open for people. That doesn't mean I still wouldn't just rather avoid the guy. To paraphrase something Melodie Beattie once wrote about politeness in codependent relationships, doing favors is a given in civil society. It's not something special.