Its quite simple. If you wear the mask of a stranger as you climb over the Western wall to enter my royal palace in the dark of night and my guards beat the piss and blueberries out of you, then you take your mask off and say "But its me the king's brother". Don't blame me or my guards for mistaking you for a stranger and treating you like one (especially if you act like one)! This foregoing might apply to many things in life and might explain why someone has experience certain treatment at times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6QTRU1IJU#t=55
(48 second mark)
Doesn't David Merrill at times refer to a corollary called: "nakary"? The word 'person' is related to the word mask' or 'farce'.
Though the idea of neutrality or making declarations of peace is not new AFAIK, Salsero makes a good point in that the conditioning and lack of knowledge makes it seem rather impossible for some to overcome the obstacles. As mentioned before, on a certain level, a driver license doesn't tell anyone whether you are a stranger or not--they will likely presume stranger. I have gotten the overall impression that folks are conditioned to act like strangers and to see themselves as strangers in a strange land nearly from birth. What a gambit. What is 'strange' may vary with the culture or venue. Pop media, it seems, tends to encourage folks to act strange and think strange.
Sure it might take some knowledge or wisdom to know if one is triggering the undesirable responses from the others by one's own actions. Light is handy for overcoming the darkness.
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BTW, I recall listening to a talk by "Pastor Tony King". He went on this seemingly religious talk .. and eventually got to "Become one with your strawman." I stopped the recording at that point.