I recall a group of coworkers. Some had been there a while, some were new. One of the new ones was trying to do something but was having some difficulty understanding the systems.
A couple of the workers who'd been there a while were having a conversation and apparently something funny came so they giggled and laughed. Their laughter coincided with the new person's struggles...
The new person took offense at the laughter asking, are you laughing at me? You all are laughing at me!
It was furthest from the truth. It was just coincidental timing but that new person fully believed they were being laughed at.
So, just because someone thinks something is being directed at them or is being malicious doesn't make it so.
Both you and the other user have brought up examples of things that happened one time. The article is about something that happens repeatedly. So in order to make your comparison apt, let's pretend the coincidence of laughter happened every day for a week.
Do you see how this person might mistaken that laughter for being at their expense?
I can also tell you about having to walk thru a working class neighborhood on my way to class --it was the only place I could afford sharing rent with other classmates.
On more than one occasion, I had people in front of their buildings casually spit towards me but always managing to just miss. Other times they might pump their chests up as one might walk by...
Do I go ahead and write on that all so and so are a bunch of baddies, look at what I went thru?
Most people get similar or different shit from other people. We don't all feel like it's worthy of traffic driving blog posts.
A couple of the workers who'd been there a while were having a conversation and apparently something funny came so they giggled and laughed. Their laughter coincided with the new person's struggles...
The new person took offense at the laughter asking, are you laughing at me? You all are laughing at me!
It was furthest from the truth. It was just coincidental timing but that new person fully believed they were being laughed at.
So, just because someone thinks something is being directed at them or is being malicious doesn't make it so.