No one should ever take them in.

Kids, this is the ultimate life lesson. When someone has a bad impression of you, they will reveal the entire depth of their character. Instead of giving you the benefit of the doubt, or deciding not to associate with you, most people act on that impression without any further thinking.

I have a family member who doesn't mean~ any harm when she throws a temper tantrum. She's angst for a little while, but she doesn't keep it in. She lets go of her feelings later. While her behavior is difficult to deal with, she doesn't attempt to harm me in a financial or physical way. That's narcissistic personality disorder: tolerance but rejection of others' negative impressions. So yeah, my family member is slighly preoccupied with how others perceive her.

But some people are obsessed~ with how others perceive them. Some have to be seen as perfect, or rational when they're doing something unethical. To illustrate my point, my latest job released me. My boss needed a rational, perfect way to replace me since he didn't like me, so I gave him one. I told him that he should choose the right candidate. We shook hands when he came to his decision, and I was free of his tyranny.

Why didn't he like me? He got a bad impression of me, and instead of verifying whether his impression was true, or whether I would do anything to restore our professional relationship, he acted on that bad impression. Okay, I'm stretching things; he really was the devil.

No you don't see the devil.

Under stress, people sometimes project negative onto each other. They think they see the devil in the other person. They act on this impression, and then they are surprised when others, who don't share the same impression, aren't willing to go along with them.

Over time, these negative impressions become sacred cows. In the Muslim world, the belief that the USA causes war, that Israel occupies Muslim land, and that killing us is a service to Allah are all negative impressions swallowed without thought.

And so a guy like Bin Laden or Ahmadinejad comes across these sheep. They accuse us, and the sheep believe every word of it. Next thing you know, these idiots are trying to kill us: the great~ Satan.

And if there's anything we know about stupid people, it's that they aren't going to listen~ to us once they have a negative impression.

The big, popular business of seeing evil that isn't there

If your beliefs are in this list of sacred cows, you are a true impressionable idiot. I've categorized this list just to save you time in realizing the truth.

From the Left

*  Environmentalists see everyone else as polluters or as "global warming deniers"
*  Socialists see capitalists as greedy and rich
*  Gun control advocates see everyone else as irresponsible
*  UFO-chasers see the military and government as a conspiring enemy
*  Racists see black people as evil
*  Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson see white people as the cause of black suffering
*  Abortion advocates see pro-lifers as control-freaks
*  Drug war supporters see drug users as evil, irresponsible, or harmful to society
*  The anti-war crowd actually believes we want to steal oil and kill innocent people
*  The anti-Bush crowd actually believes Bush is a nazi
*  Vegetarians see meat-eaters as bloodthirsty monsters
*  Feminists see flirting as male-chauvinism
*  Hillary Clinton sees a right-wing conspiracy
*  My summer school teacher saw Newt Gingrich as evil
*  Tom Cruise and the guy who played Chef's voice see South Park as evil
*  Atheists see Christian decorations on government property as a proclamation of religion
*  Posers think anyone wearing a black trenchcoat is about to kill people
*  Government school workers think homeschoolers are anti-social and anti-government
*  Smoking opponents think cigarette smokers want to give others lung cancer
*  Talk radio opponents think talk radio hosts are coveting the people's~ airwaves
*  Gangstas think cops are all crooked
*  Gay rights supporters see the Boy Scouts and the institution of marriage as discriminatory
*  CBS saw Imus as evil
*  Drugfree.org sees children as evil, stupid, and in need of 100% supervision
*  Free trade advocates see everyone else as opposed to freedom
*  Liberals see conservatives as evil

From the Right

*  Republicans see poor people as the only cause of their own problems.

*  Illegal immigration opponents think Mexicans are invading our country.

*  Government school honor students think everyone else is stupid.

*  Preps think anyone who doesn't show tact is an immoral person.

*  Extroverts see introverts as anti-social.

*  Conservatives see anyone who has sex without a license as a criminal.

*  Christians think opposing the separation of church and state is a good idea.

*  Interrogators think torturing terrorists is effective and necessary.

*  Conservatives see liberals as evil.

*  Sell-outs of capitalism think people don't trust the free market but fail to realize people don't trust anything else either. (This means you, Robert Locke, you jerk)

*  My date's friend thought she was going to meet me for sex at a hotel, so he called her mentor in the middle of the night. My date got a call at 3:00am, and I never had sex. I hate you conservatives.

From the rest of the world

*  Terrorists think we're killing children, causing war, and stealing Arab land
*  Iran thinks we're trying to control their economic development
*  The international community thinks we're overreacting

Congratulations, you're all idiots.

But when you idiots decide to vote or write laws, then you're not just an idiot anymore. Then you know everything, and we're~ idiots.