What proportion of people are good, decent people, and are you a good person?

[BomboChipolata]

Based on threads we see here, a lot of people seem to be surrounded by awful people. I’d be interested in how people view their circle and how they see themselves.

My own view is that 90% of people are fundamentally good people, but they can be bitter or selfish from time to time. I’d put myself in that category.

how do you view people?

Are you a decent person?
What proportion of people are good people?

I think we live in a selfish immoral world. It's gotten worse.

IncompleteSenten

Are you incapable of giving an accurate answer? Do you think everyone is a chump wanting you to say what they want to hear? Or do you actually have a line and you're too busy being interesting and naughty to admit it?

Quite tiresome, either way.

@Ubbee I'm going to order that book, thank you.

Humans haven’t evolved so very far, from what I have experienced in my nearly 5 decades on this planet. They are in turn selfish, survivalist, altruistic, generous, terrible and good. Shakespeare wrote about it in every play; Cicero described it. Context is everything, I believe - but we wouldn’t survive without co-operation, so whilst people are capable of unspeakable cruelty they are also capable of amazing grace. Nobody is good all the time. A very, very few are born 100% evil.

My mum taught me to look for the best in others - not at the expense of believing in some rosy-tinted way that everyone will always act honourably, but understanding that most are capable of it. In a civilised and aware society we must identify our own ethics and morals and do our best to individually live them.

The way I understand it is: Look for the good. Strive to do good. But also forgive yourself (and those around you) if they fall short. Most humans under stress are more likely to behave badly. It’s just our nature.

Really? I mean if you look back in history, we really don't.

Compared to when, exactly? 😬

What the fuck are you on about?

You said you thought the answer you were supposed to give was no. Do you think other people just want the answer you think you're supposed to give? Maybe they want the truth or they wouldn't bother asking. It's a little coy to say "Well I'm supposed to say this aren't I" 😉

Are you reluctant to tell the truth and say "Yes I do have an internal moral boundary that would stop me killing a child but I'm enjoying sounding like a psychopath so I'd rather not admit it."

Or you genuinely so depraved that you'd shoot a child if you knew there would be no consequences and a huge reward?

I won't bother engaging again if you can't give a straight answer.

Clear?

Either way, anything but a straight answer is tiresome.

Oh. I see.

You didn't read my later posts where I explained my opinion quite clearly.

Fair enough.

Doing so probably would have stopped you plopping on with your silly snide shit though.

Or maybe you did but didn't understand what I was saying. Apologies if that's the case.

I assume you are wanting an easily understandable answer to the shoot a child question another poster asked me in response to my own answer to the OPs question.

So here it is.

I don't know.

Put me in that situation and we'll both find out.

That is my honest answer.

I hope it's a straight enough answer for you.

Yes that's good enough.

Try to find a soul.

🤣

You have a fine ear for a snide putdown but you're too morally bankrupt to say no I couldn't kill a child for money. And it's funny if someone thinks you're deficient and expresses that. But the reality is you are deficient and it's really not that funny.

You may never be in a situation where it's in your gift to harm someone and you see the benefit. Whether it happens or not, you'll always know who you are.

I imagine the poster is quite fine with who they are. The opprobrium is purely for your own benefit 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've stolen a lot from big companies but I don't see that as bad compared to an affair. One is against the law the other isn't. One hurts other people the other doesn't so much

I literally banged on for fuck knows how many posts about how awful the human race is. How we are selfish, self centred, concerned with our personal survival and best interests, are capable of truly awful deeds and fool ourselves that we are decent people and after all that, you are surprised that I answer honestly that I cannot know what I would do?

I do not believe anyone can know. We can say what we hope we would do, we can say what we think we would do, hell , we can be fully convinced we absolutely would do what we think we'd do but we cannot know what we would do.

It would be ridiculous of me to say hey, I know I think the rest of the species is capable of all sorts but I'm just so much more moral and good and I know that I would never do anything awful no matter what cos I'm so confident in my goodness. I'm just that much better than you. 😇

Do you think that I think I am better than I perceive the rest of humanity to be? That I think everyone has the potential to do terrible things but me?

No. I'm not better than the rest of the species. I am as capable of doing something awful as anyone else and I don't know who I would choose to be in these extreme hypothetical situations. And I don't think anyone does. They just need to feel they do because their perception of themselves is vital to them.

I don't fool myself that I could never do the awful thing in a hypothetical situation. I admit that I cannot know with certainty what I would do. I don't know what I would discover about who I truly am if I was put in one of these extreme situations that would never actually happen so I could easily lie and say I'd do the most wonderful of things 100% oh yes every time.

Attack me all you want if you need to. It doesn't bother me at all. I find your anger interesting. It makes me wonder if it's a reaction to the suggestion that this unknown element exists within us all. 🤷

I'm not angry actually. I think you're manipulative but it doesn't anger me.

You could know what you'd do and not do for money. Plenty of people in the human race are capable of not taking another life for money and they know it. Maybe you're looking at history and cherry picking to reflect your own mind. The kind of self ignorance you're describing is usually reserved for other situations where there is real moral complexity. Like, would we kill to give our children a better chance of survival. But the scenario in question was sheer avarice, not desperation. There's nothing honourable or realistic or honest about pretending you don't know what you'd do for greed. It's not that hard. Morality is not quite so opaque.

We live in a world where many people do have to find out what they'd do in difficult situations on a daily basis. There are starving people sharing their food. People in refugee camps who will find a newcomer a bed. It's hubris in you to say no one could know what they'd do in a difficult situation when some are quite clearly already doing it. Living better. Knowing themselves. Probably not wondering what they'd do with a gun, a child and a bag of gold.

If this had been a situation where someone was being tortured or their survival was threatened I would agree with you. That's human nature. You're hiding behind that truth and conflating it with sheer unbridled narcissism. It doesn't anger me as such but yeah, I'll challenge it when I see it. It's lazy.

Also, the victim thing you have going on is a real tell on the narcissism front. You could address this.

You would have known there would be push back to your first post. Especially the fake humour. It's too openly attention seeking to have a real emotional reaction to, I'm sorry. I can see you like to poke the fire and pretend to be the voice of reason. Just... tiresome. And empty.

Oh please.

I'm not pretending to be anything.

It's a thread that asked a question.

I answered the question with my views.

I got asked more questions.

I answered them.

I answered with my genuine view of people.

You don't like how I see people. That doesn't change my opinion one little bit.

You need to call me names for reasons I can only speculate on, because I have a view of people that what? You disagree with? You don't like? You don't want to accept? (They're rhetorical questions by the way. I'm not interested in your reply)

You've called me morally bankrupt. Manipulative. A narcissist. A person without a soul. And probably some other bits. I can't be arsed to go back up and look.

And why? Because I think we're all got it in us to be absolute shits who don't like to think what were capable of and I don't exclude myself from that view?

Your insults are not the words of someone who is not cross. Clearly something has you upset or you wouldn't be resorting to personal attacks.

I stand by my opinion. You don't like my opinion. That's fine. I really don't care.

Do you have any other names you need to call me in order to feel better about yourself or are we done here?

Almost all guys say "I'm a nice guy". Most of them are not.

I haven’t read the whole thread

I think there’s good and bad in everyone
I am a good mum, a great mum. Very dedicated to my job which is caring for people

however I have a short fuse for nonsense and really tight boundaries which would make me selfish as regards caring for my mother in law or putting up with my mother’s depression
So I am not really a giver in that sense. Maybe that makes me bad.

I didn't call you names. It's a pity you can't engage in a bit of robust debate. I'm not interested in your view of people. Just how you justify your views. You can't. Fair enough. Happy to leave it.

🤣 god you're funny.
Nah, you didn't call me names, you just said I'm a morally bankrupt manipulative narcissist without a soul. Whisper more sweet nothings in my ear my darling. You make me weak at the knees.

I expressed my views. I explained why I think the way I do. This triggered a shitload of crap from you for some bizarre reason and you came after me like I'd bitch slapped your mother before rimming your dad at the dinner table in front of your granny and the vicar.

If by justify my views you mean give you a reason for my views that you are capable of comprehending and agree with then tough shit. You don't have to agree with why I feel the way I do for me to hold my views and if you can't understand what I'm saying that's a you problem. I've been perfectly clear.

Now I tell you I'm done bothering repeating myself and you come with the face saving well you can't do robust debate bollocks. You remind me of a jack russell terrier with a bone poster I thought had fucked off long ago. God, she really was a tedious wanker. I think the entire site heaved a collective sigh of relief when she fucked off.

But I digress.

You're so invested in winning this argument you're trying to have with me when really you'd be better off going ah well, some random on the internet holds a view I don't agree with.🤷 Big whoop.

I guess I could robustly debate all night with you if you're really that desperate to carry on but all I'd be doing is repeating my already stated opinions and it seems like a waste of my time. Maybe you could just reread my posts and pretend I'm saying them again cos I'm not sure how many different ways I can say the human race are selfish shits capable of all kinds of foul crap and not one of us is above that behaviour no matter how much we tell ourselves otherwise and we have no idea how we would act in certain circumstances.

Anyway, you come type some angry shit about how I've got no point and can't debate and tell yourself you won on the internet! Go order yourself a little trophy off Amazon. I'll go watch cat videos on YouTube and not laugh at you too much, I promise.

Wow. I won't pretend I ploughed through all of that. I'm glad you're nowhere near me with a hypothetical weapon. As I said, fair enough.

I think most people want to be good and feel the emotions that drive this such as love, compassion, empathy etc.

I don't believe anyone is perfect or hasn't done some bad things. I certainly have. But I think few are actively bad - as in they enjoy being cruel, manipulative and causing pains