Seeing a handicap makes some strangers feel licensed to intrude

Evidence

The stranger is close to us insofar as we feel between him and ourselves similarities of nationality or social position, of occupation or of general human nature. He is far from us insofar as these similarities extend beyond him and us, and connect us only because they connect a great many people. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 397 (#expands, via linked claim)

In the case of the stranger, the union of closeness and remoteness involved in every human relationship is patterned in a way that may be succinctly formulated as follows: the distance within this relation indicates that one who is close by is remote, but his strangeness indicates that one who is remote is near. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 397; The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388

Related

• Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far (similarity 0.88)
• The most urban-inept strangers can be the most warmly treated (similarity 0.87)
• A stranger is someone personally unknown yet visually available (similarity 0.87)
• The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness (similarity 0.87)
• In the stranger, distance means the near one is far and vice versa. (similarity 0.83)
• Strangeness is a specific proportion of nearness and distance (similarity 0.81)
• Libraries and museums block strangers’ attempts at conversation (similarity 0.80)
• Stranger relations rest on general commonality, not specific differences (similarity 0.80)
• Humans have a biophysical cap of roughly four thousand known individuals (similarity 0.80)
• The stranger is not a transient wanderer but a settled potential wanderer (similarity 0.79)
• Widely shared similarities cool connections into a sense of contingency (similarity 0.79)
• Strangers are perceived by type rather than as individuals (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Shared universal traits make the stranger simultaneously near and far #expands (0.45) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 397
• The stranger embodies a simultaneous union of closeness and remoteness #expands (0.45) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 388