Obviously you don’t like cats
Can you remove or defeat a misapprehension someone holds about you?
Say they think, because you’re allergic, you don’t like cats. So you scoop up their cats and cuddle them; then promptly run to the faucet and wash your hands and face.
Next time you see them, they say, “Man, I know you held them, both of them, but you still don’t like cats. I could see, you were scared.”
“No, did you see me scratch their necks? I was laughing, trying to go fast and get to the kitchen to wash my hands.”
“Well, let’s just say this: you don’t like cats that much.”
“Well, my grandpa tried to kick our cat when I was little, but I — I like cats.”
“No you don’t.”
“Jesus.”
Now let’s say you’ve belonged to seven labor unions in your life, have watched numbers of strikes settled without gains, or smashed entirely, and have gotten effed over by three of the unions, two of which worked explicitly against you in labor disputes, which led to your firing, and another was hapless and useless in preventing your dismissal on zero grounds.
“You’re a union buster, buster!” they say. “You’d rather have us live in a Right-To-Work state.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Why would you say that?”
“Because you’re always throwing shade and shit on unions. Like man, if you don’t like your union, after all they do for you, why not just STFU about them. You’re not doing them or yourself any favors. It’s not like they get paid for all they do. They’re working selflessly.”
“For all they do, ha! I never threw shade on my union people, what are you talking about, you clearly have never met me. I’ve lobbied and committee’d and marched with my unions. Hell you say.”
“Well then just STFU about them.”
“Not when they pull shit on me. Not when they lobby coast to coast to bring in 35 heinous mandates and doctrinaire Marxist bullshit, trying to de-center whiteness, lower expectations, and keep parents out of schools. Not when they tear down teacher authority and sabotage themselves, and do nothing for their dues paying members. The hell I’m not gonna say something, because I’m not gonna pay dues for all this extra political bullshit that has nothing to do with real kids.”
“Yeah, you’re a union buster, buster.”
“TF out of here.”
No, you can’t easily defeat a misapprehension about you. Some people are hypnotized and they cannot be woken up. And when it spreads like grease around social media, and now 200 people hold the misapprehension, you get a little pissed.
I’m going to add to this but I’m onto something else for a bit ..