It is rare that people purposely act negatively.

We perceive their negativity from ‘our’ context; our job is to understand their context. They will have a positive intent but we don’t necessarily see it.

Understanding why they think something is positive is the first step to building empathy. However wrong we feel someone’s views, actions, and words might be, starting from a place where we can their motivations is how engage, inform, and educate.