“Don’t ignore bad vibes you get from people” by Kaj_Sotala

I think a lot of people have heard so much about internalized prejudice and bias that they think they should ignore any bad vibes they get about a person that they can’t rationally explain.

But if a person gives you a bad feeling, don’t ignore that.

Both I and several others who I know have generally come to regret it if they’ve gotten a bad feeling about somebody and ignored it or rationalized it away.

I’m not saying to endorse prejudice. But my experience is that many types of prejudice feel more obvious. If someone has an accent that I associate with something negative, it's usually pretty obvious to me that it's their accent that I’m reacting to.

Of course, not everyone has the level of reflectivity to make that distinction. But if you have thoughts like “this person gives me a bad vibe but [...]

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First published:
January 18th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Mi5kSs2Fyx7KPdqw8/don-t-ignore-bad-vibes-you-get-from-people

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.