If you don’t agree with the concept of good or bad people, you dont have to answer just down vote. If you think a person is good or bad based on where they were born and live you don’t have to answer just down vote.
Everybody has the capacity to be an asshole once in a while. To asshole is human.
But in general, people who go out of their way to stir shit up, or be an asshole/intentionally rude about something, then play the victim when they get called out for being an asshole. Waste of fucking space and energy. Just go live on a fucking island with all the other passive aggressive assholes.
The book “Sapiens” does a good job framing this. Humans are social creatures. Our social groups define their own norms, mores, values, etc. To be “good” is to align with those values. Clashes happen when groups with vastly different values interact. The old adage “if you were born where they were born, and you were raised how they were raised, then you would believe what they believe” applies here, even though this isn’t always true.
The Internet makes this problem more stark. Our groups aren’t based on location anymore; our neighborhood, our school, our church. We can find our group(s) that align with and reinforce us any time we want. It’s also upset the typical way we define our values, and our society is struggling to catch up.
So long way of saying, good or bad relies on context and the values of those you’re close with.
But fuck people who don’t return their shopping cart. They’re just plain bad.
Honestly, I just kind of pick up on it.
Most people aren’t good and they tend to get worse with age. The people who are good tend to have a hard time because of how awful the rest of us are.
Through their actions.
Most people are good. Most people forget to be kind to others sometimes.
Some people forget to be kind to others more. I kinda don’t like that.
Some people need to cause others discomfort to feel like they are in control of their lives. I dislike that.
Some people feel that they have the right to or even should cause others discomfort because they have some kind of birthright granted by their religion, how aggressive their ancestors were, or some perception that they’ve worked harder than others. I feel that such people should either be rigorously reeducated or in some way removed from access to other humans entirely.
two things.
- how they treat other people
- what they don’t say
first one is pretty easy. don’t treat other people like pieces of shit, or you’re a piece of shit.
second one, when they see something happening that is wrong and do nothing. you’re a piece of shit.
Empathy
Yep. Real fucking easy answer for me.
If someone tells you a story about how they lost their dog, if that person tries to one-up them, dismiss them, or hurts them… They’re a bad person. No negotiation.
What if someone tells you a story of how they lost their spider?
I would be sad. I’m an arachnophobe, but Spiders are magnificent.
Spider warning
It’s all about empathy. If they lack empathy or kindness then fuck them. I don’t want them in my life and I prefer not to interact with them.
Thats fair
One of my tests as I’ve grown older is whether or not that person is capable of treating someone else’s children as their own.
Both my father and step father did, so I didn’t realize how rare of an attribute this is, nor did I realize how evil not having this attribute can make some seemingly good people behave.
are their actions based on how they benefit them?
I also find it important to consider what they think of as “benefitting themselves”.
If good vs bad is dependent upon their actions, then someone extremely selfish can be seen as “good”, just if they have enough ability to think long term and desire a future that would end up making them act “good”.
If good vs bad is dependent upon their thoughts, then good luck finding out what people think. What they say will be completely different from what they think and a lot of them just realise they can easily get away with contradicting themselves as long as they do so in front of someone powerless.
How do they treat those that are “beneath” them? Customer service workers, pets, kids, etc. Anyone that they should have some sort of authority over.
This and the shopping cart test tells you a lot about a person.
In addition, how quick they are to declare others to be beneath them.
That’s definitely a big one for me.
Removed by mod
I believe people can be good in different ways. I had a friend who had some batshit insane religious beliefs (Baptist), like she said it was worse to kill yourself than someone else, because then you couldn’t repent. But she would do anything for a friend, I had an emergency and she kept my kids even though she had a job interview, as an example. So she was good in actions and I’d argue evil in beliefs.
I have a coworker who is so mean & cutting, complains relentlessly about her husband, prickly person but does a great job at her job, loves her dog, and is great to work with because she Gets Shit Done. Is she good? Bad ?
I guess my bottom line criteria is can you care about others in at least some way, so empathy or sympathy is what makes it possible to be good.
Their ability to return their shopping cart to the corral
Small addition: while nobody is watching. Or at least they think nobody is watching.
Cart NARCS will forever live in my mind rent free
The true litmus test.
Heh. I assume everyone is a bad person unless they immensely prove that they aren’t. they can’t do lots of drugs, lead chaotic lives, be anti-intellectual, be a gossip, be greedy, a control freak, have an immoral job, use religion as a cudgel, have no integrity, be overly optimistic, have lots of kids, etc. etc.
Heh, “Respect all, Suspect all.”
Optimists can be cringe but do you really think it makes them bad people?
Thats a pretty cynical view but I get it.
I determine it by analyzing their attitude, behaviour, body language, their personal beliefs.
Reasonable
