Hanlon's razor

Hanlon's Razor is a simple rule that can help us understand why people do things that seem rude or unkind. It goes like this: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

This means that if someone does something that hurts our feelings, we shouldn't automatically assume they did it on purpose. Maybe they didn't know what they were doing, or they were just having a bad day, or they simply made a mistake.

To help understand this concept better, let's imagine that your friend accidentally spills some juice on your new dress. You might feel sad or angry, but instead of assuming they did it on purpose to ruin your dress, you could use Hanlon's Razor to assume that it was just an accident. Maybe they were talking with their hands and knocked over the cup without noticing.

By assuming this, you can avoid getting upset over something that wasn't intentional, and you can save your friendship from unnecessary drama. So Hanlon's Razor reminds us to always try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not assume the worst.