Duke Reivier's Grand Game Emporium

 There is often a tendency to treat people as though they have one defined set of traits. In reality, people are often a collection of many disparate traits, and exhibit different traits depending on their circumstances. Someone who is nice while conversing to you could very well be rude and abrasive to their children, or furious when provoked or disagreed with. Someone who makes a show of being extremely open minded can in fact be quite narrow minded when introduced to ideas they personally disagree with. The best way to judge character, thus, is not to pass judgement based on how you perceive them, but to attempt to understand their point of view and see how they react based on circumstance. Approaching them directly can also work, provided you don't provoke their hostility and present an open minded stance. Of course, this is not to say that all behavior should be tolerated or bad behavior shouldn't be punished, but it should be accompanied with a genuine attempt to understa...

 There was a time when I used to be insistent on people "getting" stories, or its equally toxic brother, stories needing to conform to some grand standard to be truly "good". It turns out both are wrong. There's neither a "right" way to read a story, nor a "right" way to write one. What people pose as the "right" way is just a technical guide, and while that has value, in terms of providing a basic guideline, taking it too seriously only serves to create unnecessary friction while discussing stories. It is much healthier and fulfilling to be receptive both to different kinds of art, as well as to the width and breath of interpretation.