PinkyJujubean said:
You gotta sort out who can be reasoned with and who can't. It's a simple process. There are some people who can never be reasoned with and will always hate you. They're not hard to spot because of how they act. Also if someone is being rude and mean and hateful to me then I have the right to stand up for myself and give it back to them. And I do. It's never produced negative results either. Standing up for myself and being assertive has brought more joy into my life because it helps grow my confidence. All the time I hear people act like if everyone is nice then everything will be fine. It doesn't work that way. Some people you win over with kindness, others you repel from you before they have a chance to hurt you. Not everyone responds to kindness. Some people are beyond hope and should be encouraged to stay as far away as possible
Not everyone is willing to be reasoned with but we do not live in a strictly reasonable world.
No one is immune to influence, there are far more options than reason.
There is, as I am sure your experience has proved, a big difference between hostility and assertiveness.
Asserting yourself; having boundaries and holding to them, these are good things regardless of whether a person is nice to you or nasty.
By all means keep doing these things.
Being unpleasant is, by contrast, not an expression of assertiveness; is not boundaried; and is about as likely to effect a positive influence in someone else as their own unpleasantness was in you - which was self evidently ineffective.
Present yourself as just as nasty, there is not much point in responding in kind but doing it worse, and people suddenly gain legitimate reason to dislike what you represent.
We are largely decent people who are just trying to live peaceably in difficult times. Adopting the manner of people who are unable or unwilling to do so is clearly a step in the wrong direction.
We can stand up without putting anyone else down.