“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Robert Hanlon, a man after my own heart, was a computer programmer from Scranton, PA. He submitted this phrase in 1980 to a humor collection called Murphy’s Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong.
Being the subculture creators that we are, a bunch of programmers created [The Jargon File] (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/index.html) in the 90s and included it. It fits right in with the programmer outlook on the world. This is where it gained most traction.
Didn’t get invited to the meeting? It’s not because they don’t want you there. Someone forgot.
Your friend ignored your message? It’s not because they are ignoring you. They forgot.
You get cutoff in traffic? They’re not targeting you. They’re just not paying attention.
You see this one every day. Don’t assume someone or the system is out to get you.
It’s likely just inattention.
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