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Comment by whipoodle | Hacker News Reader

That does seem better, because I don't think I would say people generally have positive intent. It's more like benign or neutral intent.

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The way I like to put it is: People aren't for you or against you, they're for themselves.

Most of the time people don't intentionally slight you, they just don't care enough to actively avoid it.

> People aren't for you or against you, they're for themselves.

Where does bullying fall in your classification?

One popular theory of bullying states that bullies are uncertain of their own position in the social hierarchy, so they attempt to bolster it by pushing down on those weaker than them.

http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

Which means that to be "for themselves" they feel the need to be "against others" as they view things as zero sum. I guess similar applies to other zero sum situations (or situations that people view as zero sum). The car salesman isn't trying to screw you, he's just trying to make more money for himself, by screwing you.

I think its safe to assume in general people are just trying to do the best they can, whether they have the tools and support they need to get there is another matter

I do not agree. Many people just do enough to get by or say get promoted. I would hazard saying most.

It is a rare person that really wants to do best and they are typically not rewarded for it. Especially when they don't get rewarded.

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