Humans: Mostly good, or mostly bad?

[Hermit of the Forest]

How do you perceive the world in general? Do you see human nature as mostly good, mostly bad, or perhaps someplace in between? Are they mainly good natured but flawed?

I believe humans were made to be good, but are corrupted by evil, and are not merely flawed, but fatally flawed and in need of redemption. It effects everything thing we do, say, think, believe, desire, strive for, love.

Are humans generally trustworthy to you, or will they usually betray you somehow if given the opportunity?

I think it’s always best to trust people to be who and what they are... and it’s always good to know and understand who you’re dealing with.

Do you like them?

Yes, indeed. They are captivatingly beautiful.

 

[PumpkinMayCare]

QUESTION / SURVEY TOPIC:
How do you perceive the world in general? Do you see human nature as mostly good, mostly bad, or perhaps someplace in between? Are they mainly good natured but flawed?

With the exception of a small portion of the population, I view humans as a mix of good and bad, and inbetween those, some of them are more likely to cause bad situations and others more likely to attribute in a positive way. Most humans don't cause friction and problems because they are inherently evil, but for many reasons: They view matters differently, because they were brought up in a different way, so they think they're doing the right thing when others can't agree.
Lots of people actually mean well, but like the famous saying here states, well meant isn't always leading to a good outcome. Another reason could be, that people are indeed only human and are flawed in different ways: Maybe they're jealous of something and that's why they sabotage someone else ... there are a lots of reasons for so called 'evil' behaviour.

GOOD VS BAD
The definition is subjective and debatable...but use your own subjective definition. It's a survey of perspective, not of truth in reality.

EDIT
To clarify, I am just wanying to gather a general overview of how others see the world rather than discuss human nature or changeability. Are humans generally trustworthy to you, or will they usually betray you somehow if given the opportunity? Do you like them? Whatever else you think of. Overall, collectively, in general, on average.

I don't make generalizations when it comes to the human kind, because they aren't all the same. Some will betray the other when given the opportunity, some won't. It depends on the individual and their level of integrity. Like Hermit said very well, it's good to know who you are dealing with. I see this matter the same way.

And do I like humans?

Yes and no. I don't like certain people and I don't like certain behaviour. But there are others I like or even get to love.

 

[Tomb1]

I would have never come up with the notion of good and evil unless it was introduced to me by numerous societal institutions. Therefore, any perspective I have on it is merely the result of social conditioning and has nothing to do with survival. i.e. who gives a damn...less I have to play by the environment's parameters the better.

 

[Lark]

I would have never come up with the notion of good and evil unless it was introduced to me by numerous societal institutions. Therefore, any perspective I have on it is merely the result of social conditioning and has nothing to do with survival. i.e. who gives a damn...less I have to play by the environment's parameters the better.

The popularity of that view on this forum, in fact, how its stated almost precisely that way by different posters is one of the things which makes me think that people use multiple accounts on here.

I mean is it really that possible that that many people could be wrong about this?

For if this conceptual dichotomy, one of the true real ones that exists, was not naturally occurring but only the product of social engineering by institutions how did it become institutionalised in the first place? Who are the social engineers?

And /end thread.

 

[Tellenbach]

5% are mostly good;
30% are neither good nor bad;
65% are mostly bad.

 

[Mind Maverick]

I knew I should have used different words besides good vs evil. People got hung up on those words and completely sidetracked from the actual gist of what I'm asking here.

It was never my intention to go into good and evil here, I just want to know whether or not people trust other people and think they are well meaning.

 

[Virtual ghost]

In my book most people are sheep for the most part and that means that good vs. bad falls mostly on the quality of the leadership. Since the leadership will directly or indirectly define how most people in the area will behave. Even rebellions are basically just a reaction on the moves of leadership or the rise of new leadership. Leadership defines framework and the most just swim inside it.

 

[Mind Maverick]

I am not sure what to think of other people myself. All my life I was taught not to trust anyone in the world other than my father. I remember he used to cry and say don't be like the rest of the world, and he'd talk about how horrible they are. He'd always twist things into making it seem like people always had ulterior motives and ill intentions even when they didn't, and if there was a lack of awareness he'd say it was an unconscious ill motive because people are desperately evil. So my views were warped by him and I believed this about others, and he was the only person I was close to for several years.

Now that I'm an adult I'm finding that there are people who are helping me when I need it and probably don't even deserve it, there are people who are there for me and I don't really understand why. There are people who fight their way past my walls and just...care about me. I find that human nature isn't as bad as he always told me, and simultaneously I realize that he was merely a psychopath trying to keep me isolated from everyone else, as psychopaths do.

On the flip side, my mother is in the opposite extreme, believes most people are well-meaning and good, thus can be naive at times, and that's how she ended up with my father to begin with.

So now I'm not sure how to see the world. There's a balance somewhere between my parents' opposite extremes, but I don't know what it is. I don't really even have enough experience with having relationships with others to make that judgment call, because I spent my life in isolation due to excessive restrictions from age 0-18, and my father's "reprogramming" from 19-27. 27-28 for possibly the first time in my life I've genuinely connected to a few others, and I am learning people aren't as terrible as I thought, and that there are lights in this world. I also still doubt my own perceptions after so many years of someone gaslighting me and implanting their own views. I don't know what's the disease vs what's the truth.

For that reason, I wondered what most other people think...what the general consensus was. My hope was to glean from some of the things others have to say. I'm just trying to grow and heal myself more. I need to reshape my views and am not sure what to shape them into. No one can tell me how to do that, but I thought perhaps I might gain insight from the thoughts of others.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

"Mostly" just means that you are looking for answers.
There are no answers.
Your answers just comfort you.
That is the answer.

 

[Mind Maverick]

Uhm, I'm pretty sure that if people are "mostly" bad that is not comforting.

The post I just wrote above is what says I'm looking for answers...but not everyone searching for answers is seeking comfort. Some of us genuinely are after the truth. In some cases, such as the case with the few people I've met that influenced my views and changed my mind, that truth gives hope and makes life a little more worthwhile. Other times it just is what it is.

Excessive pessimism is just as much of a bias as excessive optimism. Said bias results in inaccurate thinking and answers.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Uhm, I'm pretty sure that if people are "mostly" bad that is not comforting.

The post I just wrote above is what says I'm looking for answers...but not everyone searching for answers is seeking comfort. Some of us genuinely are after the truth. In some cases, such as the case with the few people I've met that influenced my views and changed my mind, that truth gives hope and makes life a little more worthwhile. Other times it just is what it is.

Excessive pessimism is just as much of a bias as excessive optimism. Said bias results in inaccurate thinking and answers.

My answer is just existentially extreme. Feel free to discard my response. That's kinda part of my worldview anyhow... we all have that freedom.

 

[The Cat]

Depends on how you prepare them.

 

[Norexan]

I would say that humans are animals masquerading as an superior species due to their intellect, which generates a bit of arrogance and idealism in terms of morality. Peel away society, and set any human into the wild and you will see just how fast they return to being an animal. Everything else is a side show to distract ourselves from our pointless lives, and use fake substitutes to satiate our primal desires that we cannot escape no matter how smart we become.

If you are really smart person you clam to be you would have an urge to grow. All intelligent species are good because stupidity is origin of evil.

 

[Maou]

If you are really smart person you clam to be you would have an urge to grow. All intelligent species are good because stupidity is origin of evil.

"Growth" is subjective, and the whim of outliers. The average person can care less. We are in an age where visionaries are a dime a dozen. There is a limit of growth, and when it is reached, we evolve. Whether or not our intelligence stays the same is up in the air. The average intelligence has been declining for some time now. So really, you can grow as a person, doesn't mean humanity will follow. It might even grow in the opposite direction, even if you dedicate your entire life to changing it. So whether you grow, or do not. At the end of the day, you have very little impact. Very very few make waves, and they are not even alive to see it.

 

[Norexan]

So really, you can grow as a person, doesn't mean humanity will follow. It might even grow in the opposite direction, even if you dedicate your entire life to changing it. So whether you grow, or do not. At the end of the day, you have very little impact. Very very few make waves, and they are not even alive to see it.

Humanity will follow you if you give them a good example. Most people cannot think. They just follow authorities.

 

[Maou]

Humanity will follow you if you give them a good example. Most people cannot think. They just follow authorities.

And the fools have all the confidence, and the wise doubt themselves. What we should do, is make everyone capable of leading and still capable of following.

 

[Norexan]

And the fools have all the confidence, and the wise doubt themselves. What we should do, is make everyone capable of leading and still capable of following.

Тhe point is you cannot change the world before you changed yourself. Only reason why authoritarian humanistic society failed is because they use same methods of the tyrants who ruled before them. They didn't change themselves but desperate want to change the world.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Depends on how you prepare them.

What spices do you use?

 

[Maou]

Тhe point is you cannot change the world before you changed yourself. Only reason why authoritarian humanistic society failed is because they use same methods of the tyrants who ruled before them. They didn't change themselves but desperate want to change the world.

My point is, that no matter how much you change, and change the world. Is that it will fall back to certain patterns over time. Thats how humanity has always been. It is a cycle. I do not think it is possible to break, unless we become immortal.

 

[Norexan]

My point is, that no matter how much you change, and change the world. Is that it will fall back to certain patterns over time. Thats how humanity has always been. It is a cycle. I do not think it is possible to break, unless we become immortal.

But only proof that you can think otherwise it means we can but we won't. I mean rulers of this world won't. They like this world because it gives them privilege.