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2 Dangerous Mistakes You Make With Strangers That You Should Avoid
“Talking To Strangers”
This title from Malcolm Gladwell jumped out at me from the bookshelf. I’m horrible at talking to strangers — for some reason my social anxiety kicks in and I fear they’re going to find me boring or something.
So yeah, with the sharp, painful stabs of awkward conversations past ringing in my ears, I picked the book up and went to purchase it.
Little did I know it didn’t have much to do with actually talking to strangers.
It had everything to do with judging them, and the dangerous mistakes humans make with strangers that have lead to suicide, abuse, and even World Wars.
Don’t believe me? Let me tell you three mistakes we commonly make with strangers, right from Malcolm’s book.
1. We Think Everybody Is Telling The Truth
In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to meet Adolf Hitler in Germany. Those were dangerous times back then. Hitler was making increasingly aggressive statements about his desire to invade the Sudetenland, which was the German-speaking portion of Czechoslovakia.
If Germany did invade, it would almost certainly mean a world war. Neville wanted to avoid that at all costs, so…
