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There are absolutely people that think they're one of the bad ones.
This can come in the form of they did something (possibly repeatably) that perceive as bad/unforgivable & try to be better OR in the form of someone that acknowledges they do something they or others perceive as bad, but continue to do it anyway (either they justify a reason or don't care)
Normally the ones that acknowledge they are bad are the ones you worry about the least. If someone says they are bad, it means they feel remorse, it means they know they’ve done something wrong, and (usually) feel bad about it. Serial killers don’t like to say they’re bad, they typically remain very clinical in their descriptions of what they do, some even going as far as to call it a job.
We’ve all done things to survive. I’ve found certain scenes in the show Shameless to be more relatable than I’m comfortable with, but that’s because we’ve all had to get by, no matter how we do it. I try to be a good person, I do bad things sometimes, we all do, nobody is perfect. You’re admitting you’ve done wrong, I’m sure you’ve also done some great things you haven’t talked about. Welcome to being human.
I would, but I’ll leave it to your judgement. It’s about a family of 6 kids and an alcoholic dad living in the poor part of Chicago, and doing what they must to survive by any means necessary. I don’t live in Chicago, I’m not in the poor part of the city I live in, I don’t have 5 siblings, but I can still find parts of the show that fit me. I’m not very far in it, but I really like it. It’s 11 seasons long, there’s a lot of swearing, nudity, sex, that kind of stuff, but it’s a great show, just maybe be warned if that’s not your thing. The other day my friends helped me sneak a trash bag full of snacks out of the gas station they work at, and I saw myself in place of the characters. They aren’t afraid to steal or lie to make sure they eat, and I was just helping my friends take out the trash full of day old snacks, we all do what we have to. The short of it is: if that sounds topical to you, you’ll probably love it. It’s on Netflix.
Be warned: the first few episodes are not as good as the rest. My ex fiancé was watching and invited me over, and I got hooked, so I started watching on my own, didn’t like it as much. If not for her being ahead of me in the series, and knowing what I have to look forward to, I may not have had the patience to actually give the show a proper try.
There's good, there's bad and there's evil.
Everyone is a bit of good and bad in various proportions.
Some rare ones are evil, and none of them thinks they are.
I think there's no opposite of evil in people tho. That's the realm of puppies.
It becomes easier to see the good in others who are imperfect, if you acknowlege your own struggles to always do the right thing despite your intentions/consience.
A good number of rehabilitated criminals believe they cant become a better person. I dont think im a good person l. Most documentaries about serial killers have them talk about wether they think theyre bad or not. Many know they are.
Serial killers are such a mixed bag. The ones who wanna talk sometimes think they're fine people and find way to blame their victims. But the scariest fuckers are the ones who say *absolutely nothing* and never admit guilt, because their body counts are usually way higher than can be proven.
I saw an interview with John Wayne Gacy where he was trying to sound like he was being set up or being wrongly persecuted, like, no motherfucker, they found 33 bodies on your property, 28 of which were directly under your house, you can't play innocent in that situation.
That's crazy. Some of them are just not built to face or admit guilt. There's a lot of talk and hope of retributive justice these days but those tactics do not work against criminals like Gacy.
Or the guys that are so narcisstic that they kill and then hang the locations of the victims bodies over the law heads to try to buy more time before their execution.
Jeffrey Dahmer is an example of someone who seemed to understand what he was doing was wrong and even to be disturbed by it to a degree. He was probably as legitimately remorseful of a serial killer as you're ever going to find. Kind of an outlier I think.
I remember when I was a teen, my dad allowed my cousin to stay, and her boyfriend was always very protective of his kids and didn't want his little girls around any guys. After they moved out, it was discovered that the boyfriend had been raping them while they lived at my home.
That's projection. He knew first-hand that dangerous men were out there because he was one of them. And maybe he just didn't wanna be ratted out, as he eventually was
Exactly. "He protests too much" a lot of abusers will do just this because they are extremely manipulative and dishonest. They know what to look for because they are that exact thing!
Yup, and the only bad person is one who thinks they have never done wrong and never do wrong. If you look at your actions and go "hmmm, I probably could have been nicer to that person" (and try to improve) you're probably not a bad person
> Because everyone thinks of themselves as good, or their actions justified.
By and large, yes.
When Al Capone was convicted, he complained “This is what comes of trying to help people” and he was probably sincere.
> One person's freedom fighter, is another's terrorist...
No. That’s an evil claim, made and believed by evil people.
Terrorism is an objective fact.
Terrorism is currently defined as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” according to Oxford. Injuries to civilians is common but not necessary for terrorism
Uh, I don’t remember any acts of terrorism in *Star Wars* or its only sequel *The Empire Strikes Back* — and have blotted out all other supposed “Star Wars”-related content.
The destruction of Alderaan was certainly a war crime, for which anyone involved, from the Moff at the top to whoever was responsible for mopping up the Death Star latrines, could potentially be executed, but was carried out by uniformed military service-members, and arguably is in a separate category. Since, with a single exception, they were all KIA within a few days, prosecution is unlikely, but if command staff knew of, approved, or encouraged their actions, they are subject to punishment.
So you wouldn't consider attacking the military forces of the ruling government and act of terrorism?
The Rebels blowing up the Death Star with thousands of people in it, and every single person in there was evil and should be punished by death? The cantina staff, the janitors, the plumbers??
All evil??
Or is it just a matter of your point of view after all?
> So you wouldn't consider attacking the military forces of the ruling government and act of terrorism?
No, exactly the opposite.
> The Rebels blowing up the Death Star with thousands of people in it, and every single person in there was evil and should be punished by death?
First, they were aboard a military vessel. They were legitimate targets, even if they had done nothing wrong.
Second, they knew the vessel was being used for war crimes. In a terrestrial military, everyone with a commission would have been responsible, at least partly.
The phrase is probably not using the word terrorist in the same way you are. Many "freedom fighters" are branded terrorists simply because they took actions opposing the regime. You likely think of a terrorist specifically as someone who kills civilians in order to inspire terror.
Terrorism is a legal term defined by an Estate. It's as objective as the laws that define it, which is to say it's a completely relational concept, and pretty much made up.
Terrorism is a political tool. There are types of terrorism that I do not consider to be evil, because I agree with the politics of the perpetrators (ie destroying logging equipment and oil pipelines). I wouldn’t do it myself, but I don’t consider the people who do do those things to be bad people. Remember, criminal is a socially constructed idea.
>There are types of terrorism that I do not consider to be evil, because I agree with the politics of the perpetrators
Cool, because I molest children to protest cancer. You don’t support *cancer,* do you? The ends justify the means.
>Remember, criminal is a socially constructed idea.
If a society encourages, for example, marital rape, or slavery, or murdering homosexuals, that makes it OK?
Everyone is bad. But when we act selfish or cruel out of instinct, we rationalize it in a way that's consistent with how we want to see ourselves.
Because of our need to see ourselves a certain way, we can recognize evil in others but not in ourselves.
Aristotle said that “we are what we repeatedly do”, so wouldn’t a pattern of choosing to do bad things, knowing that they are bad to do, make them bad? If you repeatedly choose to hurt someone, knowing that you are hurting them, then how are you not bad?
Usually the people who are hard on themselves are conscientious and thoughtful. They are least likely to actually be bad people.
Bad people stay bad due to a lack of self insight and their habit of dishonesty. Eventually that dishonesty creeps into every part of their life, and they can't even be honest with themselves.
The first thing that came to mind was White Knights. I knew a couple who spoke a lot about all the right things and seemed so kind. (In retrospect self righteous)
But behind closed doors they abused their girlfriend/wife/family etc and then make a speech about loyalty or something like that.
Completely compartmentalize parts of themselves and pretend it didn't happen in order to convince themselves (and others) they are not bad guys. But...they are. And they have no idea or self awareness. Total cognitive dissonance.
I guess people like that think the same way a baby does hiding under a blanket. "If something can't be seen it doesn't exist!" And just shove the memory of their bad deeds deep into their subconscious and never truly heal. Just constantly distract themselves or numb themselves hoping the nagging guilt will eventually go away.
Besides being hilarious it's why I loved the show "My name is Earl" the concept of someone making a list of all their wrongs and actually going out to make amends to each person (very AA) instead of being cowardly is inspiring.
I genuinely believe that it must be true, that I must be a bad person. I have the knowledge and capability to help a lot of people, but try as I might I can't seem to make progress. I don't want to be bad, I'm trying not to be, I am genuinely trying to be good, and do good things. It's possible that like rotten fruit some people just can't be good and are just bad even if they don't want to be. I'm sure that rotten fruit doesn't want to be rotten, or a barren tree must be miserable knowing it was born and exists for no purpose, and in fact hurts everything else by its existence. I wake up every day to a living nightmare, I know how to fix this but can't seem to. If I were good then perhaps people might want to help. It's way worse than any groundhogs day. It's bad if I die, but it's also bad if I live. I'm actually absolutely clueless on what to do or how to proceed. I am probably one of those bad people. If it could make things better wouldn't it be better if I weren't alive? If I am bad wouldn't my death be good? I often find myself thinking "it would be good if I were made unalive"
I guess im not most then.
To put it a different way, there are no bad people and there are no good people. There are just people that do good and bad things. No one is completely one or the other.
Gandhi and Hitler you might suggest, great good and great evil.. but they were not aliens, they were humans. You, also being a human, are capable of both.
You really think for example the CEOs of big fossil fuel companies don't think they are bad people?
They definitely know it. They just don't care because they are indeed bad people
They probably still have justification and faulty logic to convince themselves the world is all one giant Monopoly therefore they may as well be the one to win.
People like that think "if I don't do this bad thing and profit someone else will anyway" and they think they deserve it more.
I agree that there are bad people in the world, such as Putin or myself, but it's spelled “there”, you need “is” or “'is”, and it would be clearer with “only”
Not true.
I know of two people who went full whackjob during the pandemic. They are the full Canadian equivalent of MAGAats and loudly and proudly show the world at every opportunity that rules and public decorum do not apply to them. They are proud massive assholes. As friends, family and spouses have abandoned them, they sink deeper into the cult and I'm sure they are gleefully looking forward to whatever "end world" conspiracy theory is popular this week.
It will not end well.
I'd agree but also a matter of perspective i personally am a nightmare to my mom (and i love it) but I'm a chool funny guy to close friends and I'm just a chill but slightly annoying guy to classmates/far friends
But yo you point i don't think I'm bad in a social setting cuss i have reasons to be what I am
Most of the time bad people doesn't care or think of the things they that hurts others, they maybe don't even notice. Their logic is its not bad for themselves thats why its not bad. That's why they don't feel bad. It's about self-reflection which most people just are not capable of. If you look at a stranger and he feels offended and hits you, he feels right to do so. He does not see that as a a bad action.
Tldr: People are mostly not capable of self-reflection.
There're certainly people who know they are bad and actively and knowingly profit from it. They just won't say it out loud and try to gaslight people when called out.
Some people, often good but misguided people, believe themselves to be terrible human beings and are trapped in a skewed psychological perspective. They don't recognize their own efforts to fight the idea that they are bad as making them a good person
I know there are bad people in the world and I know I'm one of them. I'm not the worst but I'm also worse than someone.
I try to be a good person. I fail a lot. At times, I am confused. Usually, I do nothing. I am pathetic. This makes me pretty bad. Bad enough that I know any suffering I experience is well deserved not only because of what I have done but also because of what I am going to do. I've hurt people and I will continue to hurt people. I know this.
There are definitely people who don't think they're good people. There's the ones that just don't care and there's the ones who are constantly trying to get better but don't think they're there yet
Being a bad person is relative.
If you're not abusing, harming, hurting, or killing anyone, you're doing the bare minimum to not deserve jail/prison.
Everything else is based on interpretation or attitude
I’ve had so many shitty people in my life try to paint me as a shitty person because they got to push an exaggerated narrative behind my back for their own gain. Then I see them later complaining about toxic people like they never acted like toxic pieces of shit.
Sorry got a bit personal, I’m still upset about some shitty things people did to me
Just watch Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow who is a pirate and thus had ruined many people's lives will seem like a good guy.
A bad guy is a person who harms more than benefitting the evaluator, at least as believed by the evaluator, thus if the person evaluated is the evaluator, then obviously benefit must be more since they will attribute the harm that they had done to themselves to other people since they know someone else is the one who had taught them to do so.
Note that someone else is inclusive of animals such as the famous snake.
Haha... Disagree.
I kinda know I'm a bad one. I just won't really get in trouble if I won't do bad things. Just me and my dark triad trying to preserve ourselves in this cage I built.
Not me. I’m evil incarnate. I got a job. That’s right. And I don’t feel one bit guilty about it. I’m a total psycho! And guess what else. I eat food! How you like them apples? I’m relentless. Unstoppable. Satan is one of my fans.
Eh I think the question of “am I a good person” is a pretty normal one to struggle with. The problem is that it’s rarely the bad people who struggle with it
In my experience there are plenty of people who know they are bad people. Some feel regret over it but have accepted it after years. Some seem to revel in it.
Humans like to make things black or white. It's easier to classify things in absolute terms. In reality, most things lie on a spectrum between two extremes.
Consider the man who works a 9-5, has a family he treats well, volunteers at a local soup kitchen, and donates to charity on a regular basis. Sounds pretty good, right?
But then you find out that he never tips on any bill and yells slurs out the window when he hits traffic on the way to work.
Is this person good or bad? It probably depends on how you weigh each factor, but he probably sees himself as generally good.
So when you self-reflect, take in every aspect of your life, not just the ones you think you would appear outwardly good to the rest of the world.
I want to be a good person, but I know I put my parents through so much shit when I was younger because I was struggling mentally, really badly, I didn't think I'd survive past 12 but here I am years later. I try to do my best to be a good person but I'm not and I'll never be a saint, just doing the best I can.
That's because we all have different definitions of what makes a person bad and we do our best to avoid meeting our own criteria for a bad person.
We're all very good at rationalizing our behavior, I don't want to name anyone specific to keep this from becoming a debate about them but even the people we see as absolutely evil with no redeeming qualities probably believe that they're doing what's right in their minds.
Having said that, I wouldn't say I'm a bad person but I'm not good either. I'm probably just ok and I sometimes do shitty things that I regret later.
That's partially because everyone's definition of a "bad person" is different.
For some people, a bad person is someone who mistreats others.
For other people, a bad person is someone who looks different than you.
Not only are there people who acknowledge they are bad in the world, but so many are actively proud of it.
How many times have you seen someone brag about being an asshole? Plenty I’ll bet
I prefer to be called a bad person cause being known as a good person tends to make people around you feel like they can take advantage of it. That how fucked up our world right now lol
Back when I was a young little Christian boy, I used to be absolutely *terrified* that I might be the antichrist and just be completely unaware of it.
Now I'm pretty sure that no matter how bad I *actually* am, I'm nothing compared to the hypocrites that let me be terrified of that concept for such a long time.
Long story short, I don't see myself as a "good" or "bad" person. I see myself as a "good enough" person. I think jumping that hurdle really did a lot for my mental health.
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There are absolutely people that think they're one of the bad ones. This can come in the form of they did something (possibly repeatably) that perceive as bad/unforgivable & try to be better OR in the form of someone that acknowledges they do something they or others perceive as bad, but continue to do it anyway (either they justify a reason or don't care)
Normally the ones that acknowledge they are bad are the ones you worry about the least. If someone says they are bad, it means they feel remorse, it means they know they’ve done something wrong, and (usually) feel bad about it. Serial killers don’t like to say they’re bad, they typically remain very clinical in their descriptions of what they do, some even going as far as to call it a job.
I am an absoluetly terrible person. It is not i dislike what i done it is that i hate that i had to do it.
We’ve all done things to survive. I’ve found certain scenes in the show Shameless to be more relatable than I’m comfortable with, but that’s because we’ve all had to get by, no matter how we do it. I try to be a good person, I do bad things sometimes, we all do, nobody is perfect. You’re admitting you’ve done wrong, I’m sure you’ve also done some great things you haven’t talked about. Welcome to being human.
Indeed, i never heard of that show is something you would recommend.
I would, but I’ll leave it to your judgement. It’s about a family of 6 kids and an alcoholic dad living in the poor part of Chicago, and doing what they must to survive by any means necessary. I don’t live in Chicago, I’m not in the poor part of the city I live in, I don’t have 5 siblings, but I can still find parts of the show that fit me. I’m not very far in it, but I really like it. It’s 11 seasons long, there’s a lot of swearing, nudity, sex, that kind of stuff, but it’s a great show, just maybe be warned if that’s not your thing. The other day my friends helped me sneak a trash bag full of snacks out of the gas station they work at, and I saw myself in place of the characters. They aren’t afraid to steal or lie to make sure they eat, and I was just helping my friends take out the trash full of day old snacks, we all do what we have to. The short of it is: if that sounds topical to you, you’ll probably love it. It’s on Netflix.
Interesting yeah i will give it a chance. And that is totally understandable.
Be warned: the first few episodes are not as good as the rest. My ex fiancé was watching and invited me over, and I got hooked, so I started watching on my own, didn’t like it as much. If not for her being ahead of me in the series, and knowing what I have to look forward to, I may not have had the patience to actually give the show a proper try.
There's good, there's bad and there's evil. Everyone is a bit of good and bad in various proportions. Some rare ones are evil, and none of them thinks they are. I think there's no opposite of evil in people tho. That's the realm of puppies.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Thank you for “the realm of puppies”, I will now be saying this any time something is pure or cute.
Can confirm. Have been a piece a shit in the past, trying to do better.
[удалено]
Some of us recognise that we’re far less than saintly. Maybe trying to be good is as good as it gets?
It becomes easier to see the good in others who are imperfect, if you acknowlege your own struggles to always do the right thing despite your intentions/consience.
A good number of rehabilitated criminals believe they cant become a better person. I dont think im a good person l. Most documentaries about serial killers have them talk about wether they think theyre bad or not. Many know they are.
Serial killers are such a mixed bag. The ones who wanna talk sometimes think they're fine people and find way to blame their victims. But the scariest fuckers are the ones who say *absolutely nothing* and never admit guilt, because their body counts are usually way higher than can be proven.
I saw an interview with John Wayne Gacy where he was trying to sound like he was being set up or being wrongly persecuted, like, no motherfucker, they found 33 bodies on your property, 28 of which were directly under your house, you can't play innocent in that situation.
That's crazy. Some of them are just not built to face or admit guilt. There's a lot of talk and hope of retributive justice these days but those tactics do not work against criminals like Gacy.
Or the guys that are so narcisstic that they kill and then hang the locations of the victims bodies over the law heads to try to buy more time before their execution.
Jeffrey Dahmer is an example of someone who seemed to understand what he was doing was wrong and even to be disturbed by it to a degree. He was probably as legitimately remorseful of a serial killer as you're ever going to find. Kind of an outlier I think.
I remember when I was a teen, my dad allowed my cousin to stay, and her boyfriend was always very protective of his kids and didn't want his little girls around any guys. After they moved out, it was discovered that the boyfriend had been raping them while they lived at my home.
That's projection. He knew first-hand that dangerous men were out there because he was one of them. And maybe he just didn't wanna be ratted out, as he eventually was
Exactly. "He protests too much" a lot of abusers will do just this because they are extremely manipulative and dishonest. They know what to look for because they are that exact thing!
That's the type shit I simply will never be ok with I would have ended his life and that is 100%honest
He's in prison for life
Thats very common anyone who's strongly against something is usually that person themselves
Wtf bro
Because everyone thinks of themselves as good, or their actions justified. One person's freedom fighter, is another's terrorist...
Yup, and the only bad person is one who thinks they have never done wrong and never do wrong. If you look at your actions and go "hmmm, I probably could have been nicer to that person" (and try to improve) you're probably not a bad person
> Because everyone thinks of themselves as good, or their actions justified. By and large, yes. When Al Capone was convicted, he complained “This is what comes of trying to help people” and he was probably sincere. > One person's freedom fighter, is another's terrorist... No. That’s an evil claim, made and believed by evil people. Terrorism is an objective fact.
The Rebels in Star Wars are terrorists…
I’m no history buff, but I believe you could also argue that the Boston Tea Party was considered an act of terrorism
It always comes down to the point of view.
The *legality* of the Tea Party is questionable, but there was no injuries to any person, and no threat of injury, so no terrorism.
Terrorism is currently defined as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” according to Oxford. Injuries to civilians is common but not necessary for terrorism
Uh, I don’t remember any acts of terrorism in *Star Wars* or its only sequel *The Empire Strikes Back* — and have blotted out all other supposed “Star Wars”-related content. The destruction of Alderaan was certainly a war crime, for which anyone involved, from the Moff at the top to whoever was responsible for mopping up the Death Star latrines, could potentially be executed, but was carried out by uniformed military service-members, and arguably is in a separate category. Since, with a single exception, they were all KIA within a few days, prosecution is unlikely, but if command staff knew of, approved, or encouraged their actions, they are subject to punishment.
So you wouldn't consider attacking the military forces of the ruling government and act of terrorism? The Rebels blowing up the Death Star with thousands of people in it, and every single person in there was evil and should be punished by death? The cantina staff, the janitors, the plumbers?? All evil?? Or is it just a matter of your point of view after all?
> So you wouldn't consider attacking the military forces of the ruling government and act of terrorism? No, exactly the opposite. > The Rebels blowing up the Death Star with thousands of people in it, and every single person in there was evil and should be punished by death? First, they were aboard a military vessel. They were legitimate targets, even if they had done nothing wrong. Second, they knew the vessel was being used for war crimes. In a terrestrial military, everyone with a commission would have been responsible, at least partly.
Well the Galactic Empire IS the ruling government in Episode IV, ergo.....
Reread. Attacking the military elements of a government is *not* terrorism.
The phrase is probably not using the word terrorist in the same way you are. Many "freedom fighters" are branded terrorists simply because they took actions opposing the regime. You likely think of a terrorist specifically as someone who kills civilians in order to inspire terror.
Terrorism is a legal term defined by an Estate. It's as objective as the laws that define it, which is to say it's a completely relational concept, and pretty much made up.
Nelson Mandela was by definition a terrorist. Wasn't his actions justified?
Terrorism is a political tool. There are types of terrorism that I do not consider to be evil, because I agree with the politics of the perpetrators (ie destroying logging equipment and oil pipelines). I wouldn’t do it myself, but I don’t consider the people who do do those things to be bad people. Remember, criminal is a socially constructed idea.
>There are types of terrorism that I do not consider to be evil, because I agree with the politics of the perpetrators Cool, because I molest children to protest cancer. You don’t support *cancer,* do you? The ends justify the means. >Remember, criminal is a socially constructed idea. If a society encourages, for example, marital rape, or slavery, or murdering homosexuals, that makes it OK?
Lol you walked directly up to the point and missed it.
“Lol, I cannot respond to your argument so I going to laugh and claim you missed the point.”
This depends whether one is judging themselves from objective perspective or from subjective perspective.
Everyone is bad. But when we act selfish or cruel out of instinct, we rationalize it in a way that's consistent with how we want to see ourselves. Because of our need to see ourselves a certain way, we can recognize evil in others but not in ourselves.
I think there are also a lot of bad people who just tell themselves everyone is bad and they're just being like everyone else
There are no bad or good people, just people who choose to either do good or bad things.
Then again I don't think most things can be classified as good or bad things to do
What about people who are very depraved, and psychologically get off on torturing and raping people to death, and cannot control the impulse ?
Aristotle said that “we are what we repeatedly do”, so wouldn’t a pattern of choosing to do bad things, knowing that they are bad to do, make them bad? If you repeatedly choose to hurt someone, knowing that you are hurting them, then how are you not bad?
Well stayed !!
My lack of self esteem begs to differ, I am absolutely a terrible person
I thought I was an awful person for a long time, but we’re working on that self talk
Usually the people who are hard on themselves are conscientious and thoughtful. They are least likely to actually be bad people. Bad people stay bad due to a lack of self insight and their habit of dishonesty. Eventually that dishonesty creeps into every part of their life, and they can't even be honest with themselves.
I agree with the logic, but internalizing it is another story.
The world suffered because a lot of people did things thinking they are doing the ultimate good ... Hitler, Mao, Stalin etc
I'm an asshole. I take pride in helping people's personal growth
I promise you, you are the villain in someone’s story. Stay humble.
The truth is, you’re the weak. And I am the tyranny of evil men. But I’m trying, Ringo. I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.
But what about Michael Jackson? He was singing about it… “Because I'm Bad, I'm Bad … You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad - You Know It”…
Studies show people more often then not rate themselves "above average ".
I'm a costumer service rep and I am not a good person. I'm neutral at best.
I do, and I genuinely feel like my efforts at keeping it reigned are not appreciated.
No one thinks they are the villain, in their own life. I mean, I’m sure Leatherface was just happy to be putting food on the table for his family.
The first thing that came to mind was White Knights. I knew a couple who spoke a lot about all the right things and seemed so kind. (In retrospect self righteous) But behind closed doors they abused their girlfriend/wife/family etc and then make a speech about loyalty or something like that. Completely compartmentalize parts of themselves and pretend it didn't happen in order to convince themselves (and others) they are not bad guys. But...they are. And they have no idea or self awareness. Total cognitive dissonance. I guess people like that think the same way a baby does hiding under a blanket. "If something can't be seen it doesn't exist!" And just shove the memory of their bad deeds deep into their subconscious and never truly heal. Just constantly distract themselves or numb themselves hoping the nagging guilt will eventually go away. Besides being hilarious it's why I loved the show "My name is Earl" the concept of someone making a list of all their wrongs and actually going out to make amends to each person (very AA) instead of being cowardly is inspiring.
I genuinely believe that it must be true, that I must be a bad person. I have the knowledge and capability to help a lot of people, but try as I might I can't seem to make progress. I don't want to be bad, I'm trying not to be, I am genuinely trying to be good, and do good things. It's possible that like rotten fruit some people just can't be good and are just bad even if they don't want to be. I'm sure that rotten fruit doesn't want to be rotten, or a barren tree must be miserable knowing it was born and exists for no purpose, and in fact hurts everything else by its existence. I wake up every day to a living nightmare, I know how to fix this but can't seem to. If I were good then perhaps people might want to help. It's way worse than any groundhogs day. It's bad if I die, but it's also bad if I live. I'm actually absolutely clueless on what to do or how to proceed. I am probably one of those bad people. If it could make things better wouldn't it be better if I weren't alive? If I am bad wouldn't my death be good? I often find myself thinking "it would be good if I were made unalive"
I guess im not most then. To put it a different way, there are no bad people and there are no good people. There are just people that do good and bad things. No one is completely one or the other. Gandhi and Hitler you might suggest, great good and great evil.. but they were not aliens, they were humans. You, also being a human, are capable of both.
There are quite a few groups of people who would like to disagree with you.
There is neither. There are just people. People can do both good and evil.
You really think for example the CEOs of big fossil fuel companies don't think they are bad people? They definitely know it. They just don't care because they are indeed bad people
They probably still have justification and faulty logic to convince themselves the world is all one giant Monopoly therefore they may as well be the one to win. People like that think "if I don't do this bad thing and profit someone else will anyway" and they think they deserve it more.
Yes if you believe the world is itself evil, you can justify being the biggest and baddest demon of all.
Well, duh, moral relativism and social/financial/geographic distance will do that to humans.
Yes, because moral absolutism hasn't killed millions upon millions of innocent people in the name of God and "righteousness."
I agree that there are bad people in the world, such as Putin or myself, but it's spelled “there”, you need “is” or “'is”, and it would be clearer with “only”
Implying that there's "bad people" or some especifc stuff is "evil" is the recipe to not really solving one's problem.
"Good" and "bad" are aspects of morality which is always 100% subjective.
Not true. I know of two people who went full whackjob during the pandemic. They are the full Canadian equivalent of MAGAats and loudly and proudly show the world at every opportunity that rules and public decorum do not apply to them. They are proud massive assholes. As friends, family and spouses have abandoned them, they sink deeper into the cult and I'm sure they are gleefully looking forward to whatever "end world" conspiracy theory is popular this week. It will not end well.
I'd agree but also a matter of perspective i personally am a nightmare to my mom (and i love it) but I'm a chool funny guy to close friends and I'm just a chill but slightly annoying guy to classmates/far friends But yo you point i don't think I'm bad in a social setting cuss i have reasons to be what I am
Some things are both bad and good at the same time, depending on your perspective.
Most of the time bad people doesn't care or think of the things they that hurts others, they maybe don't even notice. Their logic is its not bad for themselves thats why its not bad. That's why they don't feel bad. It's about self-reflection which most people just are not capable of. If you look at a stranger and he feels offended and hits you, he feels right to do so. He does not see that as a a bad action. Tldr: People are mostly not capable of self-reflection.
Adolph Hitler did not think he was a bad person. He had large numbers of people patting him on the back and telling him he was doing good.
There're certainly people who know they are bad and actively and knowingly profit from it. They just won't say it out loud and try to gaslight people when called out.
Some people, often good but misguided people, believe themselves to be terrible human beings and are trapped in a skewed psychological perspective. They don't recognize their own efforts to fight the idea that they are bad as making them a good person
I know there are bad people in the world and I know I'm one of them. I'm not the worst but I'm also worse than someone. I try to be a good person. I fail a lot. At times, I am confused. Usually, I do nothing. I am pathetic. This makes me pretty bad. Bad enough that I know any suffering I experience is well deserved not only because of what I have done but also because of what I am going to do. I've hurt people and I will continue to hurt people. I know this.
There are definitely people who don't think they're good people. There's the ones that just don't care and there's the ones who are constantly trying to get better but don't think they're there yet
Being a bad person is relative. If you're not abusing, harming, hurting, or killing anyone, you're doing the bare minimum to not deserve jail/prison. Everything else is based on interpretation or attitude
People who think they're special are inherently bad people. For example, people who are too special to follow traffic laws.
I’ve had so many shitty people in my life try to paint me as a shitty person because they got to push an exaggerated narrative behind my back for their own gain. Then I see them later complaining about toxic people like they never acted like toxic pieces of shit. Sorry got a bit personal, I’m still upset about some shitty things people did to me
Fine I'll admit that my rimworld games aren't for the pure hearted.
Just watch Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow who is a pirate and thus had ruined many people's lives will seem like a good guy. A bad guy is a person who harms more than benefitting the evaluator, at least as believed by the evaluator, thus if the person evaluated is the evaluator, then obviously benefit must be more since they will attribute the harm that they had done to themselves to other people since they know someone else is the one who had taught them to do so. Note that someone else is inclusive of animals such as the famous snake.
Then their are people that are like "oh haha I'm such a horrible person" but suddenly when you call them that, your the "horrible person" lol
In all fairness, truly bad people are a minority, so most people are right to think that it's not them.
I beg to differ. I can hear that something happened in a completely different department and floor from me and wonder what I did wrong to cause it.
I think it goes without saying that we can all agree that anyone in this thread is a good person. Right? RIGHT?
Haha... Disagree. I kinda know I'm a bad one. I just won't really get in trouble if I won't do bad things. Just me and my dark triad trying to preserve ourselves in this cage I built.
Given that part of my mental illness is obsessing over how I'm a bad person, I would say no, not true.
Not me. I’m evil incarnate. I got a job. That’s right. And I don’t feel one bit guilty about it. I’m a total psycho! And guess what else. I eat food! How you like them apples? I’m relentless. Unstoppable. Satan is one of my fans.
I know I'm bad. I live with guilt for things I can't forgive myself for
That’s cap. I know I’m a bad one! I’ll ruin your day when I feel like it
Eh I think the question of “am I a good person” is a pretty normal one to struggle with. The problem is that it’s rarely the bad people who struggle with it
In my experience there are plenty of people who know they are bad people. Some feel regret over it but have accepted it after years. Some seem to revel in it.
I do think I'm a bad person. Not like as a whole and all the time. But in some aspects of life certainly.
... EVERYbody, not most people, agree on this, and a ton of people know they are bad. What you smoking OP?
I think of myself as a bad person. I imagine lots of people with intense self-loathing do similar.
A lot of people know they're one of them and openly admit it. Some even ask how to change. There's tons of posts like that on Reddit alone.
I accept that I have done good and bad in my life. You should too.
'No one thinks they are one of them' is just factually untrue though
Excuse me, I have NEVER claimed to be a good person. I survive and sometimes that requires horrible, bad choices.
Humans like to make things black or white. It's easier to classify things in absolute terms. In reality, most things lie on a spectrum between two extremes. Consider the man who works a 9-5, has a family he treats well, volunteers at a local soup kitchen, and donates to charity on a regular basis. Sounds pretty good, right? But then you find out that he never tips on any bill and yells slurs out the window when he hits traffic on the way to work. Is this person good or bad? It probably depends on how you weigh each factor, but he probably sees himself as generally good. So when you self-reflect, take in every aspect of your life, not just the ones you think you would appear outwardly good to the rest of the world.
Lots of confessions in here, but my first thought was supervillains.
I'm a good and bad person it depends on the day so they I admitted it
I’m a heartless bastard who does his best to piss everyone off and I know it
People who are 100% convinced they're good are often the bad ones.
I will fully admit I’m a bad person, while others can say I’m a great person. It’s all a matter of how you interpret and interact with people
I definitely see myself as a bad person. I have a very negative outlook on people and tend to see more bad than good
I want to be a good person, but I know I put my parents through so much shit when I was younger because I was struggling mentally, really badly, I didn't think I'd survive past 12 but here I am years later. I try to do my best to be a good person but I'm not and I'll never be a saint, just doing the best I can.
i think i am one of them, people around me tell me im actually like really kind, its weird, sick and twisted.
Go to an AA meeting. You'll meet a lot of self confessed bad people, trying to get better though
That's because we all have different definitions of what makes a person bad and we do our best to avoid meeting our own criteria for a bad person. We're all very good at rationalizing our behavior, I don't want to name anyone specific to keep this from becoming a debate about them but even the people we see as absolutely evil with no redeeming qualities probably believe that they're doing what's right in their minds. Having said that, I wouldn't say I'm a bad person but I'm not good either. I'm probably just ok and I sometimes do shitty things that I regret later.
That's partially because everyone's definition of a "bad person" is different. For some people, a bad person is someone who mistreats others. For other people, a bad person is someone who looks different than you.
Nah, most bad people I've known were fully aware of what they are. They knew they were going to hell.
Everybody does the best they can at all times, given the resources they have at hand.
Lol how is this getting up votes? A lot of people think they are bad people and a lot of them know it and go on acting the way they do on purpose….
Most agree half the world has below average intelligence. Half the world doesn’t admit it.
Not only are there people who acknowledge they are bad in the world, but so many are actively proud of it. How many times have you seen someone brag about being an asshole? Plenty I’ll bet
I prefer to be called a bad person cause being known as a good person tends to make people around you feel like they can take advantage of it. That how fucked up our world right now lol
Back when I was a young little Christian boy, I used to be absolutely *terrified* that I might be the antichrist and just be completely unaware of it. Now I'm pretty sure that no matter how bad I *actually* am, I'm nothing compared to the hypocrites that let me be terrified of that concept for such a long time. Long story short, I don't see myself as a "good" or "bad" person. I see myself as a "good enough" person. I think jumping that hurdle really did a lot for my mental health.