Humans: Are we evil?

[Asuka Soryu]

What do you think?

We are alone, lost, without purpose, scared and misguided but we're not evil per se.
I like to think that our creator has forsaken us and that's why we can't have nice things.

I like to think of it more like tough love. A father who's their, he cares but you never really notice it. You ignore it for all the pain you feel and you feel neglected, his love for you is ignored by all the bad times. He's watching, testing you. He wants you to earn life and toughen up through hardship, rather then hand everything to you and let you become spoiled and rotten. But, that's just my oppinion.

How disabled, crippled, retarded, stillborn, dead at very young age, "human vegetables" and similar cases fit into your point of view ? Just curious...

Just the balance of the world. There is no light without dark and vice versa. How about a person who's dreams are granted? Out of sheer luck, they're right there at the right moment and get what they want?

What about people born to become great, rememorable people. The world does seem like it's forgotten and unloved if you never look at the bright side.

Suffering is the path of humanity, they may have been unfortunate, but there's still those who have the greatest things happen to them.

When they get to heaven(yes, I'm well aware you're probably gone to attack me for thinking of such a place and considered me idiotic and blind, but I'll stand by it) they will be cured. This life is filled with suffering, but all those who felt pain shall be healed when they get to heaven(this is my beleief, I don't mind if you disagree).

But for now, this world is a mixture of Darkness and Light. Yes, if you focus on the bad, it does seem forsaken. But if you realise there's also good in this world, you can see that it's not all one hell hole abandoned to suffer.

Yes, there's people who are caught in fires, but there's also people who would die to rescue that person. In a world forsaken by its creator, people like this would've died out long ago as they'd have no reason to see any good in the world to bother with giving a damn about someone elses life.


But I digress, I never intended to change your belief, I merely felt like sharing my own. :3

You speak very eloquently and beautifully and while I'm not a Christian for several reasons, one of them being that to get into Heaven you have to believe in Jesus's sacrifice and try to follow his advice, something that doesn't fit with those who die very young I admire your optimism.

Thank you. Oh, in my religion, children will litter the streets. Anyone who dies a kid is admitted into heaven as they are innocent in the Lords eyes, as he understands they do not possess the capability to understand sin, or to praise him.

 

[sinterklaas]

Evil? No. Flawed? Yes.

I don't think anyone is inherently evil, but we are all flawed. It's up to each person to decide to combat those flaws or not.

Yes, there's people who are caught in fires, but there's also people who would die to rescue that person. In a world forsaken by its creator, people like this would've died out long ago as they'd have no reason to see any good in the world to bother with giving a damn about someone elses life.

Nope. You can be good without god.

 

[KuroShinobi]

As a whole, humanity is not evil. It's somewhat akin to Yin and Yang; You get good and bad. The world is full of choices, it's those choices that determine if we are good or bad. Thats my personal opinion.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Good and Evil are simply abstract concepts created by humans to place labels upon both altruistic actions/thoughts, and selfish/counter-altruistic actions/thoughts. Same thing goes for human rights, freedoms, and to some extent even defined emotions. So, no. Humans are not inherently good or evil, we are simply (the majority) altruistic towards our fellow human beings within our societies due to biological (evolutionary) and social conditioning (what works, what doesn't work in history).

Although you could argue that sociopaths are inherently "evil" by the sane individual's standards, due to biologically being wired differently than the rest of us to be predisposed towards harming/killing others. But, then again, most sociopath's don't consider themselves to be "evil", however, simply "natural" (after all, they are biologically wired to believe such).

Yes, there's people who are caught in fires, but there's also people who would die to rescue that person. In a world forsaken by its creator, people like this would've died out long ago as they'd have no reason to see any good in the world to bother with giving a damn about someone elses life.

It's always so nice to see people whom have enough faith in humanity's good side without having to attribute it to a vague, physically detached all-powerful father figure that may or may not be typical human projection for the need of "purpose" in life they cannot create themselves.. /sarcastic sigh

I'm an Agnostic Atheist. Are you going to tell me that I should give up (or can't legitimately care) on the world around me, and the people within it, simply because I don't subscribe to the aforementioned above father figure belief? If so, that is frankly a right slap across the face..

 

[Asuka Soryu]

What do you think?

We are alone, lost, without purpose, scared and misguided but we're not evil per se.
I like to think that our creator has forsaken us and that's why we can't have nice things.

I like to think of it more like tough love. A father who's their, he cares but you never really notice it. You ignore it for all the pain you feel and you feel neglected, his love for you is ignored by all the bad times. He's watching, testing you. He wants you to earn life and toughen up through hardship, rather then hand everything to you and let you become spoiled and rotten. But, that's just my oppinion.

How disabled, crippled, retarded, stillborn, dead at very young age, "human vegetables" and similar cases fit into your point of view ? Just curious...

Just the balance of the world. There is no light without dark and vice versa. How about a person who's dreams are granted? Out of sheer luck, they're right there at the right moment and get what they want?

What about people born to become great, rememorable people. The world does seem like it's forgotten and unloved if you never look at the bright side.

Suffering is the path of humanity, they may have been unfortunate, but there's still those who have the greatest things happen to them.

When they get to heaven(yes, I'm well aware you're probably gone to attack me for thinking of such a place and considered me idiotic and blind, but I'll stand by it) they will be cured. This life is filled with suffering, but all those who felt pain shall be healed when they get to heaven(this is my beleief, I don't mind if you disagree).

But for now, this world is a mixture of Darkness and Light. Yes, if you focus on the bad, it does seem forsaken. But if you realise there's also good in this world, you can see that it's not all one hell hole abandoned to suffer.

Yes, there's people who are caught in fires, but there's also people who would die to rescue that person. In a world forsaken by its creator, people like this would've died out long ago as they'd have no reason to see any good in the world to bother with giving a damn about someone elses life.


But I digress, I never intended to change your belief, I merely felt like sharing my own. :3

You speak very eloquently and beautifully and while I'm not a Christian for several reasons, one of them being that to get into Heaven you have to believe in Jesus's sacrifice and try to follow his advice, something that doesn't fit with those who die very young I admire your optimism.

Thank you. Oh, in my religion, children will litter the streets. Anyone who dies a kid is admitted into heaven as they are innocent in the Lords eyes, as he understands they do not possess the capability to understand sin, or to praise him.

What do you call yourself?

Christian. It may seem a bit confusing, but not all christian faiths are the same. :3 While the name's the same, the believes can varry by quite a bit.

Anyways, we've really gone off topic. lol I am the master of going off topic~ Whoo~ So, anyways. I'll just end with this: it was nice chatting with you and I'm happy to see you're not one of the people who have condemned me for believing in God. Now to stop here before the mods drop their wrath on us.

 

[babinro]

Humanity is inherently good on an individual basis. We are out to ultimately improve our own lives and the lives of those we care about. It's this hunger for materials, wealth and survival that create inequality and perceived evil.

Looking at things from the outside on a macro level, it is easy to view humanity as evil. Look at our lives from an individual basis and the vast majority of us are raised to be good.

 

[karloss01]

Am I evil?
Yes i am.
Am I evil?
I am man, yes i am

 

[ThisIsFiveEighteen]

Nope: neutral. Some good, some bad.

 

[Kyle 2175]

'Good' and 'Evil' are very subjective, but if you take the basic, semi-objective idea( Help people vs. hurt people) then it evens out somewhere roughly around 'Neutral'. There are people who devote their lives to helping others, people who try to be as nice as they can, people who just do what they want, people who are cruel to others, and murderers, thieves, and worse. As for purely subjective morality (ethics?), such as religions and philosophies, they may be viewed as good, neutral or evil depending on one's perspective.

 

[chstens]

Just like every other animal on earth, we naturally think and care about ourselves more than anything else, but unlike the other animals, we can change that.

 

[Ammutseba]

I don't really believe in good or evil.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

For the last time: you cannot round 7 billion people into a polar group.

 

[Old Father Eternity]

Pardon for not going through all of the previous posts.

Yes, humans are evil, it is a fundamental part of us, however you can not really put all actions or thoughts purely to one or the other side. It is a more or less common understanding that it was intelligence that brought us to where we are today but truth be told, it was only one part of it. We are here mostly because of things that current society would condemn, we are here because we were/are the most cruel and persistent species around (based on pretty much the most basic of instincts and emotions affected by the nature of our surroundings). However that is not to say that we can are not capable of good(intelligence and emotions) Aside those there are still a lot of various factors that can affect Our nature towards either.

Not meant as bullheaded most definitely true statement, One acknowledges that One can be wrong.

 

[dragcrew]

It's down to opinion really. We can do great good (usually for ourselves) but can also do great evil towards the environment. I guess from an alien's perspective or the Earth's perspective we are evil, but its difficult to argue without having a consenus on what being 'evil' actually means.

 

[Avalanche91]

we're not evil.

We're stupid; this leads to poor decisions that make other people think you're evil.


This does not include the sick and twisted, cause more often then not these people are mentally ill. it does work as rule of thumb for the general public.

 

[JesterRaiin]

But I digress, I never intended to change your belief, I merely felt like sharing my own. :3

Naaaaaah, it's impossible for me to change my beliefs without application of strong alcoholic beverages, so don't worry.

I am curious about this :

Just the balance of the world. There is no light without dark and vice versa. How about a person who's dreams are granted? Out of sheer luck, they're right there at the right moment and get what they want?

Then - if i understand correctly - it is completely possible for some people to suffer whole life, while other seem to be born in and never leave land of happiness ?
I guess so. I mean - come on, there's no denying that there's no equality, that some people are "cursed" from the day they were born to the end. So, we have serious issue of injustice here that gave birth to thinking like this :

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MjWko47X45I/TdKtt9PqBII/AAAAAAAAAXk/QMPf5LGaXao/s1600/Epicurus+Quote.jpg

Everything would be fine if any given human would have to bear his share of pain AND also enjoy equal amount of happiness, but life doesn't work that way.
I think that truth is a little closer to Islam or maybe some Hindu traditions that are presenting the world as nothing more than "theatre" with us being only actors playing their role.

I don't count on changing your beliefs (maybe-not-so-similar reasons like mine i guess, but still) with my monologue, but i'd be happy for igniting even a little spark of doubt in that thinking of yours.