Do not attribute to Malice what can be explained away by stupidity

"Do not attribute to Malice what can be explained away by stupidity"

Raymond E Feist 2003

Jan 22, 2006

This was said by the most excellent author Raymond E Feist as his signature on his mailing list.
Without Ray, I propbably would still be stacking shelves at the Co-op!

I think it means that when people really annoy you or hurt you emotionaly , you must consider that they may not have intended to effect you, they may not have even been aware or considered you. So don't hate them for it, pitty them.

People spend so much time hating and punishing arrogance when they could be curing ignorance!

Most of the time the only thing that's happened is that someone has been inconvenienced, which is irritating. But when this happens a lot emotions can build up and people can react with clouded judgement.
In my experience the majority of these events occur through people reacting to their own insecurities.
When people feal insecure they may say things to protect themselves without being able to empathise with the people around them because their judgement is clouded by their insecurity.