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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am
(This post was last modified: January 25, 2018 at 11:25 am by FatAndFaithless.)
I really don't hold to the seemingly-popular viewpoint that humans are just naturally pieces of shit and that given a chance without consequences everyone would be killing/raping/stealing with abandon. Most people are just good people. Our upbringing is a huge part of that, but so are the natural tendencies with which we've been engendered by evolution (altruism, etc). Most people are already raping and killing exactly as many people as they want, the number just happens to be 0.
The fact that some people do some shitty things in some situations doesn't change that. We just focus SO much more on the negatives.
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am
(January 25, 2018 at 10:45 am)Cyberman Wrote: I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?
You're a soulless robot. 
"For the only way to eternal glory is a life lived in service of our Lord, FSM; Verily it is FSM who is the perfect being the name higher than all names, king of all kings and will bestow upon us all, one day, The great reclaiming" -The Prophet Boiardi-
Conservative trigger warning.
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:25 am
(January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am)FatAndFaithless Wrote: I really don't hold to the seemingly-popular viewpoint that humans are just naturally pieces of shit and that given a chance without consequences everyone would be killing/raping/stealing with abandon. Most people are just good people. Our upbringing is a huge part of that, but so are the natural tendencies with which we've been engendered by evolution (altruism, etc). Most people are already raping and killing exactly as many people as they want, the number just happens to be 0.
This^^
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:27 am
(January 25, 2018 at 11:00 am)AtlasS33 Wrote: (January 25, 2018 at 10:45 am)Cyberman Wrote:
(January 25, 2018 at 10:54 am)drfuzzy Wrote: Exactly what Cyber said. It's not a lack of fear of an imaginary friend and what it will do to you after you die.
Brutality is due to a lack of empathy and a lust for power.
I doubt that the gangster would do what he did if he feared hell, and that the same would happen to him. Well holy crap, yes, torture works. Those who enjoy the horrors they inflict upon others don't want it to happen to them. That's why we have the death penalty.
(I'm not a supporter of the death penalty. I prefer rehabilitation if possible.)
But threats of what an imaginary character will do to you after you die? Without that you would gleefully go around looting an raping and murdering? yikes.
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:34 am
I think as a general rule, people have a hard time understanding/accepting that other people may be very different from themselves. Just because you personally cannot possibly fathom the thought of killing/raping/torturing another, doesn't mean the person who does it is mentally ill, or was brainwashed into doing it, or hasn't found God, or doesn't worship the right God, or anything like that. Some people just do it because they like to. Because they are bad people. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around it because it's so severely different from our own tendencies. But that's where we have to remember that not everyone is like us, and there doesn't have to be some sort of explanation for it.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:36 am
(January 25, 2018 at 11:34 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I think as a general rule, people have a hard time understanding/accepting that other people may be very different from themselves. Just because you personally cannot possibly fathom the thought of killing/raping/torturing another, doesn't mean the person who does it is mentally ill, or was brainwashed into doing it, or hasn't found God, or doesn't worship the right God, or anything like that. Some people just do it because they like to. Because they are bad people. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around it because it's so severely different from our own tendencies. But that's where we have to remember that not everyone is like us, and there doesn't have to be some sort of explanation for it.
And equally important to remember is that the number of these types of people are vanishingly small compared to how many decent, good folks there are in the human race.
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:36 am
(January 25, 2018 at 11:21 am)wallym Wrote: (January 25, 2018 at 10:45 am)Cyberman Wrote: I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?
You probably fear losing what you have? You don't want to be killed, jailed, be taken away from your family. Lose your house. Car. Access to the forum. Or whatever else it is you value.
The cost of committing atrocities is also so high, that the idea of committing them is a non-starter even if you'd enjoy it.
Add onto that, we're taught from childhood 'doing bad things is bad.' And there's just no reason to question it. But if you remove those consequences, like with the super rich or super poor, or if you're in one of those places there are large benefits instead of consequences, then all of a sudden, people start going the other way.
If there weren't a lot of redundancies in the system, humans wouldn't have lasted as long as we have.
Those things you listed are fundamentally different from any post-mortem judgement and ensuing punishment - I know they exist and can be taken from me without any notice. However, it's even more basic than the fear of losing what I have which prevents me from raping, killing and torturing, or even lying, stealing and cheating - I simply don't want to. I'm not wired that way. That some people think that the only thing stopping them being 'evil', for want of a better word, is fear of reprisal - illusory or otherwise - is a revealing commentary about them, as opposed to a thing lacking in me.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:37 am
Quote:Why are some humans this evil?
Usually because of some fucking god or other such primitive shit.
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:40 am
(January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am)Nay_Sayer Wrote: (January 25, 2018 at 10:45 am)Cyberman Wrote: I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?
You're a soulless robot.
Cybermen are Human 2.0, with all weaknesses pertaining to emotions removed. Robots are inferior slaves and tools to achieve logical goals.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion
January 25, 2018 at 11:41 am
(This post was last modified: January 25, 2018 at 11:43 am by Catholic_Lady.)
(January 25, 2018 at 11:21 am)wallym Wrote: (January 25, 2018 at 10:45 am)Cyberman Wrote: I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?
You probably fear losing what you have? You don't want to be killed, jailed, be taken away from your family. Lose your house. Car. Access to the forum. Or whatever else it is you value.
The cost of committing atrocities is also so high, that the idea of committing them is a non-starter even if you'd enjoy it.
Add onto that, we're taught from childhood 'doing bad things is bad.' And there's just no reason to question it. But if you remove those consequences, like with the super rich or super poor, or if you're in one of those places there are large benefits instead of consequences, then all of a sudden, people start going the other way.
If there weren't a lot of redundancies in the system, humans wouldn't have lasted as long as we have.
I think being super rich/super poor/getting a benefit instead of a bad consequence merely brings out the people who were shitty all along and allows them to do what they wanna do. And perhaps there are more of them out there than we would like to think. But I don't think this means we ALL would commit atrocities if given the opportunity. I was never a believer in Lord of the Flies.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
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