Presumption of goodwill is one of several names for a fragile attitude. “Giving benefit of doubt” is another name for the same.

This is the attitude that favours the best case interpretation of someone else’s behavior. Even if they appear mistaken or naive or evil, one might still presume that there is some extra information one lacks, some saving grace that justifies it all.

Is it fragile? Of course it is. This presumption is more rational than faith, and has limits. Be given unsatisfactory explanations or hostile attitude one too many times, your goodwill will disappear in a puff.

What happens once it is lost? Combat, just not on the physical plane. A sense of violated trust takes the place of the former goodwill. Tempers shorten. Assumptions of competence, professionalism are at risk, or worse, are replaced by the opposite. The offender’s claims henceforth require immediate convincing evidence. Little credit is given for good behaviour. The goodwill presumption may never be granted to that person again.

In electronic communication, even in normal times there is a tendency to intensify the language, to use sharper adjectives and unsubtle verbs. Maybe it is just a desire to infuse emotion into a physically detached relationship. In combat mode, carefully chosen words pierce through even a toughened ego. They sting, and in the heat of the moment, they are meant to. The political world is still a mystery to me, but combat mode here is easy to recognize: when leaders are assumed to lie, imagined to have no character and terrible ulterior motives. Where dislike grows into irrational hatred, name-calling, there is no goodwill left at all.

How to avoid losing goodwill? I can only imagine factors which may have avoided my own combat mode excursions in the past: rely less on “pulling rank”; don’t assume that goodwill from some set of associates automatically earns it within another; have and communicate solid basis for your decisions; be honest; express self-doubt occasionally; and perhaps most difficult: be willing to give a little more goodwill than you require in return.