Thinking about the current thread about intrusive thoughts/schadenfreude. There's quite a range of opinions about it on there but the thing that stuck with me was the people saying that they found the thread depressing as it made them wonder if people who were nice to them IRL actually didn't like them (or even just disliked aspects of them).
Do people not make an effort to be nice to people they dislike, even if it's just to keep the peace in an office, for example? Therefore, isn't it reasonable to assume that there are people who are nice to you, but don't necessarily like you?
It's not so much a matter of being a good or bad person, so much as it is being a likeable one. I don't think I'm a bad person, but I don't doubt there are people I annoy, people to whom I might come across as standoffish or smug or {insert inadvertent flaw}. There are people who I'd be ideologically opposed to with regard to religion or politics. There will be aspects of my character (nothing major, I would HOPE) that even my friends and family don't like. And yet most people are pleasant or, at the very least, civil.
I wouldn't be focusing on it so much normally but I'm quite new on MN, don't do any other social media and so this is sort of a first insight into other people when, being anonymous, they aren't as restricted in what they say. There's quite a few things which are completely foreign to me.
Is it common to assume that everybody likes you, despite the fact that virtually nobody likes everyone?
Sorry if this is a bit convoluted, I'm trying to figure out what I'm asking as I write it, iyswim.