I think i must be a pretty bad person.

[gocat]

I once came up with a possible punishment for Hitler and Himler in the afterlife. I never really put much thought into it and put a question mark at the end but having reflected on it i believe i must be a pretty bad person to even think of a thing like that. I was going through a really tough time in my homelife and wasnt emotionally or mentally stable but im not sure this is an excuse. At heart i believe in prison sentences, making someone do push ups, sit ups, ignoring them, not helping them when they are in trouble. Sort of an eye for eye but not literally an eye for eye. I just question if i was a good person could i ever come up with such a thought. I have no idea how much it would hurt etc.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I want to put sadists in isolated rooms surrounded by mirrors where all they hear are their own voices and the voices of the people they hurt. No other reality allowed until they are driven insane by their own existence.

My belief is that as people die and go beyond they are viscerally faced with the reality of the harm they have caused when living. It is a sort of forced empathy that is in perfect proportion to their violations. I don't believe in adding additional pain into the world, but that we each must fully face the reality of whatever we have done. To excuse the person from consequence in any way beyond this feels immoral to me, especially when the violations are not directed at me.

 

[Totenkindly]

Good and bad are not uniform states of being. We are not one or the other, and not so easily summarized as one thing. Human beings are capable of beautiful thoughts and dark dreams, of glory and atrocity.

It's even more complicated when a desire for justice [a good thing] is involved, because often what is fair can also seem cruel if looked at in isolation.

I am a fair person, but when the level of atrocity inflicted on others rises around me, I have experienced dark thoughts driven by some kind of cold, sane rage. It would be unempathetic to not sometimes experience such anger.

Are we defined more by what we think and feel, or by what we do?

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

Hearing about distance atrocity like Hitler is different than getting close. I was good friends with a woman whose son was tortured to death, and I read all the documents, listened to her, and saw her eyes. I had to process a lot of rage that I have never had to feel before. I had moments of feeling reduced to pure instinct, picturing what I would have done to save him, if I had been in the room.

I value empathy and didn't even kill the black widow spider that bit me because it was innocent of its crime and looked so scared. It tucked its little legs in trying to hide. I go to great lengths to never hit a squirrel when driving. I care about all life, and do not want to add harm.

I also have respect for instinctual responses to fight back. I feel it is a right of existence, but only under threat of being extinguished.

 

[ceecee]

Hitler and Himler succeeded in not being held accountable and never faced the reality of what they did, as they both committed suicide. But their deaths likely saved lives (just consider of the war had gone on or Axis powers had been victorious). So you try to look at it that way and make up whatever afterlife punishment you feel is just. Not really sure how that makes someone a bad person though.

Personally, I would have never executed either of them, there are better ways of dealing with people who craft a genocide and those who support it/them.

 

[Earl Grey]

It means you have a brain. You are capable of looking at a situation and extrapolating on several different possibilities on what could happen, or what could be done about it- albeit at times biased, or influenced by emotion (depression and anger bringing about more "bad thoughts", for example). That is simply a reflection of how your brain works in processing information. What you later decide to do with the information is what determines your morality, and in this case, you have decided that it would likely make you a "bad person" to follow through with your thoughts. That is what matters. Cherish that thought.

The world would not be what it is today if humans lacked the ability to foresee negative thoughts, actions, and subsequently, the negative consequences which would arise from them. Imagine the numerous accidents that would happen, all frustratingly "well-meaning" but devastating. Just like pain, humans have concrete benefits from the ability to think "bad thoughts", even if inadvertently. Our moral compass is what ultimately guides us.

It is something useful within you. You have a brain, and you have demonstrated to have the morality to judge upon thoughts coming out of it. Rejoice.

 

[Coriolis]

I once came up with a possible punishment for Hitler and Himler in the afterlife. I never really put much thought into it and put a question mark at the end but having reflected on it i believe i must be a pretty bad person to even think of a thing like that. I was going through a really tough time in my homelife and wasnt emotionally or mentally stable but im not sure this is an excuse. At heart i believe in prison sentences, making someone do push ups, sit ups, ignoring them, not helping them when they are in trouble. Sort of an eye for eye but not literally an eye for eye. I just question if i was a good person could i ever come up with such a thought. I have no idea how much it would hurt etc.

This just means you have a sense of justice, and understandable outrage at people who cause suffering, especially on such wide a scale as the Nazis did. There are many theories and perspectives on how to mete out justice, especially the balance among punishment, restitution, and rehabilitation. I put a premium on restitution: making amends for the wrong someone has done. But how do you give restitution for taking a life, or for making someone suffer? While many who follow leaders like Hitler come to regret their actions and try to make what amends they can, the likes of Hitler or Himmler likely never would. Wanting them to feel the suffering of their victims does not make you a bad person, just one who values humanity more than they ever did.

Good and bad are not uniform states of being. We are not one or the other, and not so easily summarized as one thing. Human beings are capable of beautiful thoughts and dark dreams, of glory and atrocity.

It's even more complicated when a desire for justice [a good thing] is involved, because often what is fair can also seem cruel if looked at in isolation.

I am a fair person, but when the level of atrocity inflicted on others rises around me, I have experienced dark thoughts driven by some kind of cold, sane rage. It would be unempathetic to not sometimes experience such anger.

Are we defined more by what we think and feel, or by what we do?

What we do. We cannot help our feelings, and exploring something harmful in thought does less harm than implementing it in action, especially if the exploration helps us understand where the thoughts are coming from and shows us things we need to work on about ourselves. The problem comes when we have no filters, no self-control to tell us when a feeling or thought should NOT be acted upon, or not acted upon in a harmful way.