If something can be taken more than one way, and one of those ways suggests ill intent on the part of the speaker, does it seem more or less likely to you that that was the intended meaning? If "more," should that be telling you something? Does the assumption of cruelty or condescension help anything?
If you can't tell the difference between asking a question and challenging your validity/intellect/whatever, which assumption should you probably lean toward as your initial reaction? Does the possibility of mistaking this intention raise itself in your mind very often? And what should that perhaps tell you?
If someone uses a word that comes within a ballpark of a racial or gender (or whatever) slur, what is gained by conflating the two and inventing something new to be offended by? Does a new, unintended offense do anyone any good?
If it's so easy to read between the lines of every blog post, news article and overheard conversation that everything seems to be all about you, especially when it's negative, shouldn't that be an indicator of something?
Is it any wonder that so many people are always tied up in emotional knots? But it must be doing something for them, or they'd not be doing it.
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