Usually when my default interpretation of someone else is that they are
attacking or ridiculing me, its because I feel somehow insecure about
something inside. When I have confidence in myself, I don't usually feel
compelled to attack someone else's integrity by calling them a liar, an
idiot, moron and so forth.

It's one thing to entertain contradictory ideas and accept tham as such,
quite another to feel attacked.

Ever thought of joining a debating club, Bob. Expand the old horizons of
thought, maybe?