Rather than give people the benefit of the doubt, many of us tend to assume the worst of people. We assume they are trying to hurt us. We assume they have another agenda. We look for flaws, inconsistencies, anything we can to attack or minimize person or the person's position because it threatened us in some way or because it hit a raw nerve within us. Ultimately, this is not healthy for us as individuals, for us as partners in relationships, and for us as a society trying to find common ground.