Making assumptions

Have you ever been in a situation where the person you were engaged in conversation with spoke to you like you know or don’t know what they know? For example: You could be playing the new “Injustice: Gods Among Us” iOS game, maybe your favorite character is Deathstroke, and your cousin starts a conversation about various aspects on the game and on the DC universe. Then, the conversation suddenly becomes about Deathstroke and, for no clear reason, he starts going into depth about who Deathstroke is, how he beat Batman, and his voice actor in the relevant animated series. All of this without considering that you might already know all of this and that your prior knowledge of Deathstroke is what drove you to play as him before the game was released.

What is it that drives some people to assume certain things about others? Is it the 'assume-er’s' lack of knowledge on the situation or the 'assume-er' believing that the 'assume-ed' doesn’t know anything about what they know? 

It may be due to a lack of perspective among the general populous. For some, it is difficult for them to see themselves in other people’s shoes. Others just don’t or refuse to do it because of a false belief that ‘they know them’. It’s this lack of perspective and false belief combined with humanity’s impatience that leads to assumptions about other people. This is especially apparent in teams or groups of people and stirs up quite a bit of confusion when the assumptions are proven to be false. This is why ‘I didn’t know…’ or ‘I thought…’ is often used when someone makes a false assumption.

There are some assumptions that aren’t as offensive as others or even really offensive at all and others that just make people seem like idiots or assholes or both. The worst kinds of assumptions have to be related to some kind of stereotype, stupidly popular social norm; however, all of them are connected to either.

How can this be prevented? In terms of conversation, the easiest way is simply to ask of the other person knows anything about what you are talking about. If they do, then there is no need to speak to them like they don’t know. It’s only when they confirm that they don’t know that you can explain the relevant topic to them. In general, try to learn more about the person, place, or thing; develop a better sense of judgment. When facing an assumption- if you feel offended by the other person's assumption, ask him or her why the assumption about you was made so that you can have an understanding about the situation; don’t try to fight fire with fire because then everything gets burned.