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It's a subtly but critically different idea: unless you're nice to people, they will be distinctly not nice to you. This is a unfortunate fact in general: even

by tikhonj 14y ago

It's a subtly but critically different idea: unless you're nice to people, they will be distinctly not nice to you. This is a unfortunate fact in general: even if somebody is not particularly nice to you, you should still be nice in return. However, it is only a real problem if the distinctly not-nice person is in a position of power as in this example.

tomjen3 14y ago
Unless they hold power over you, don't be nice to anybody who isn't nice to you. Iterated prisoners dilemma: if you aren't willing to defect, they will every time. If they hold power over you, smile until you stab them in the back.
- gknoy 14y ago
  If you aren't nice to someone that isn't nice to you first, and they do the same, who would ever be nice to one another?
  - lmm 14y ago
    Indeed; the successful prisoners' dilemma strategy is: you're nice to people to start with, but you turn nasty as soon as they do.