I need help to rationalise something I’ve experienced.
I’ve recently lost the ability to trust anyone, ever. I’m not sure that living like this is possible. Let me elaborate;
I experienced a level of Machiavellianism that I was not sure existed. I had a dispute with someone that unjustifiably spiralled out of control and I couldn’t understand why.
At the time of this issue, we had what we perceived as an independent 3rd party mediating this, passing on information and doing what they could to protect us both, or so they say.
It has come to light, with factual evidence in the form of messages and other pieces of information that this “mediator” was fuelling the fire of conflict, claiming to want to resolve things but actively taking steps to manipulate myself and this other person by leveraging our hatred for one another that was purely built by them.
Unfortunately for them, me and this person decided enough was enough and we confronted each other directly, and realised that the mediators attempt to neutralise was not that, they took a small matter and accelerated it into a full on rivalry.
We ended up realising this together when we tried to blame one another for unnecessarily “coming” for one another.
When our stories matched the timeline but our understanding of the facts were skewed.
What I want to know, is why would someone do this?
Also, I perceived these people to be trustworthy and have my best interests at heart, which brings me to my conundrum. If they can do this, anyone can. I don’t want to trust others, how can I get past that?
Also, why didn’t I see it coming?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.