Do you believe people are generally good?

[stroopwafel]

I think people are essentially 'good' b/c by our very nature we are a cooperative species. Most people can empathize with eachother as well and are capable of genuine compassion outside of mere self-interest.

However people can also be unspeakably cruel to eachother and can be prone to group thinking and fearful of authority. Circumstances can dictate human behavior as much as personal convictions or biological tendencies.

So I guess by the same token a 'good' person can be a bad person if time and circumstances are different. We often aren't as independent in our beliefs, behavior or even feelings as we'd like to think.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Nope. But neither are people generally bad too. Mainly people are generally egoistic, lazy, xenophobic and ignorant.

No, most people won't stab you on the streets, but neither would anyone help you if you'd get stabbed in the middle of the street on broad daylight. Maybe, if you're lucky, they call the ambulance.

 

[HardkorSB]

I believe that "good" and "evil " are highly subjective terms.
What is good to some may be evil to others and vice versa.
Hitler thought he was doing good and for the German nation specifically, he did. The terrorists who flew those planes into WTC probably thought they were the good guys too.
Hardly anyone thinks they're evil. The problem is that everyone has a different idea of what "good" and "evil" are.
For most people it's "I am good therefore everyone who is not like me is evil".

 

[thewatergamer]

Honestly, people in general, not necessarily bad or evil, but stupid and ignorant and generally don't care for others, mind this is obviously a HUGE generalization as everyone is different and it usually depends on the person

 

[Nimcha]

People are people. I don't really believe in any sort of objective definition of morality.

 

[Angelous Wang]

It depends where and how they raised, it's not a default setting.

If you are born to reasonably well off family and raised in first world country then yes you would be generally good because you had no need to do bad things and you would be punished for them.

If you are born poor in a war torn third world country, then chances are you will not be good person. Because you will end up child soldier killing and raping your entire violent life.

 

[Eamar]

No, but I don't think people are generally bad either. I think people are generally selfish (wish there was a less emotionally loaded term for what I mean by that) and will look out for them and theirs. Circumstances may require that they be either good or bad (or a mixture of both) to achieve that.

Morality is socially constructed. Behaviours that are unthinkable now would have been praised at various points in the past. Same goes for how some things are perceived across different cultures. The definitions of "good" and "bad" or "evil" change over time, so the idea that humans are somehow innately "good" or "bad" is nonsensical.

 

[michael87cn]

People are generally good, for themselves.

People look out for themselves. They make friends, and may even convince themselves that they do things FOR their friends, but really they just do things to KEEP their friends. Same goes for family. People do things for family to keep them close. If they stop, they drift apart.

It's like a game. You earn faction with people by doing things for them. If you go through this life without doing something for someone else, nobody, and I mean nobody, will ever decide to care for you. You have to pay for it.

That fact alone is why there are no good people in this world.

Well.... very rarely, there are. But those people are usually swallowed up by the world and destroyed...

It's depressing. It's a strange thing to be human. I think it's part of the curse of self awareness, of conscious thought.

There is more 'humanity' in a colony of ants, than in all of the people in this world.

 

[The White Hunter]

I think most people are generally good but are also capable of great evil by ignorance or attempts to do right gone astray.

Evil unto one individual may jus tbe justice to another, things are nowhere near so black and white.

I believe people are generally good at heart, and do what they believe is right. No matter how misguided they may be, if they are of sdound mind, they will do what they consider just and right. However that may not align with what the rest of us consider true.

A solid example may be that my father once broke a mans left arm, jaw and both legs with his bare hands. An act of evil, yes?

Now what if I told you he did this after said man broke a pool cue over my mothers back.

Now it's much more justified.

Spoiler

If someone hit my girlfriend with a poolcue broken bones would be the last of their concerns

 

[TKhanman]

I think people are mostly neutral, maybe leaning towards good, people can be selfish at some moments, but also do some things like donations to charity or sharing a link to some article or video about the plight of a group of people but they won't do things like sell all their games and comics and such to raise money, or go to a 3rd world country to build houses for the people.

 

[Cerebrawl]

Depends on where you are.

Generally speaking, better living conditions and nicer weather tend to make nicer people.

Lots of nice people up in the cold north. Lots of assholes closer to the equator. I don't think your hypothesis about the nice weather holds up.

I think better weather make people more cheerful though.

 

[hightide]

People are generally good when they know the person they are dealing with. Or in a small community were there are penalties for treating someone like crap.

When people can remain anonymous, it's a lot murkier. It becomes a chore to sympathize with someone you'll never see or hear from again.

 

[JMac85]

I believe people are generally benign. Most people pretty much only care about themselves, but that means they mostly leave others alone. Yes, the more ambitious and ruthless will go out and exploit or force their ways on others, but the majority simply don't care.

Not exactly "good", but the bar for goodness is rather low. So long as you're not a dick, you're considered a good person. Even if that means you don't actually help anyone.

 

[Frankster]

I think people like to think they are good, but whatever "goodness" they have tends to be self serving or directed to those they know.

Also acting good/evil is in the eyes of the beholder I find a lot of the times. I remember for example one time when I was younger I was considered a bad person for badly beating someone up.
From my perspective I didn't start the fight and even acted submissive at first and was willing to walk away and appear "a pussy" in front of the crowd that had gathered to watch but as soon as the guy laid a hand on me I flipped out and lost control of myself in a frenzy of fear and hatred. People were so horrified by how berzerk I went I was the bad guy in that story (nevermind that said people were the ones cheering on the fight at first and rooting for someone to throw the first punch) yet I don't feel that is entirely accurate. Perspective is everything.

 

[wulf3n]

People can be good when they have everything they need/want in surplus, take that away and you'll see how "good" most people are.

Not too long ago I was on a train that was cancelled in the middle of its run during peak hour, which where I'm from generally means sardine can trains. This meant that the next train would have an entire train load of people trying to get on a train that was practically full.

The maelstrom I observed next was both enlightening and hilarious, with the shoving and pushing akin to a heavy metal rock concert, with people trying to get both on and off at the same time causing a deadlock that likely saw several injuries and many more getting stuck on the train missing their stop. The whole situation was made infinitely more amusing due to the fact another train was only 5 minutes away.

I thought to myself, if this is how "regular" people behave just to get home 5 minutes earlier, how would people act if they were say trying to get the last piece of food or water.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No. First of all "good" and "evil" are hard to quantify. And secondly I don't think human beings are predisposed towards either good or evil, but have equal capacity for both.

 

[Silvanus]

Well, I think almost all people intend to be good, and almost all people believe they are good (or at least not bad).

That's not the same thing as actually being good though. I don't believe people are generally good, no.

That's speaking very, very broadly, though.