The right way to be and the wrong way to be

[Jehanne]

Inferior people - define please.

Putting up with having a job you hate......

For me, this is referred to as "employment".

[arewethereyet]

Putting up with having a job you hate......

For me, this is referred to as "employment".

Other than my younger days as a bartender, my current gig is the best one I have ever had.  Almost two years now of working part time from home and 90% of the time, I love it!

[Ahriman]

For me, this is referred to as "employment".

Other than my younger days as a bartender, my current gig is the best one I have ever had.  Almost two years now of working part time from home and 90% of the time, I love it!

You sound like a winner. (no sarcasm.......I think you're a winner)

[Ahriman]

The right way to be is to treat people as well as you can. A persons taste in music is very subjective and changes over time, do you not think that good food should be enjoyed rather than being stuffed down your throat at high speed?

As someone whose music library is a quarter terabyte in size (and that’s with most of it at 128 kbps), I’d put “treating people well” several dozen places higher than having good taste in music.

I don't value treating people well.

[onlinebiker]

We never would have guessed....


Drip
Drip
(Sarcasm)

[Belacqua]

Some people are just bad seeds, and calling them out is not for their own good, but for the good of society. Natural born criminals do not deserve to be free.

OK, I can see this. Some people need a warning label. 

The people who insult you on this forum show that they agree with you on this point.

[arewethereyet]

Do you have an ideal set of behaviors/inclinations that you strive to perform/live up to? And what are some behaviors/inclinations that annoy you and indicate that the offending person is an inferior sort of person?

Excellent opening post! Thanks for posting it.

We spend so much time here talking about how other people are bad, it's nice to see a post that prompts me to think about how I might be better. 

(Everyone knows Thomas Nagel's famous paper "What is it Like to Be a Bat?" He posits that bats have an inner world of experience and response that is very different from that of a human. We can never really know what that inner world is like. I've often thought that someone should write a book "What is it Like to Be a Good Person?" Because I think that a genuinely good person would also have an inner life that is different from mine, and which I can never experience. It would be worth imagining what it would be like, though.) 

The "right" behaviors/inclinations, I think, would be having good taste in music, 

Here of course we have to be careful, because people often use "good taste" to just mean "the same taste as mine." But I think there is a solid case to be made that some music (and novels, and movies, etc.) has a negative influence in the world, and that good people will gravitate toward cultural productions which are more positive. 

Every song, poem, movie, etc., rests on an ideological foundation. It may not be obvious, but it's true. The listener absorbs the subtext of the song along with the entertainment value, so that it functions as propaganda. Someone with a head full of this propaganda will be less of a good person -- the contents of our brains is just what we are, and if the contents are pro-stupidity, pro-fascism, pro-cruelty, then that's what we are. 

So if that's what "good taste in music" means, then I agree that a good person will have good taste. 

eating food very quickly (I have better things to do than stuff food down my throat), 

This depends on the context, surely. If you have people waiting for you, then sure, keep up the pace. But some meals are meant to be enjoyed with friends at an unhurried speed. If the chef has worked hard to create something wonderful, then wolfing it down will be an insult to her and a missed opportunity for pleasure for oneself. 

knowing how to play an instrument (or multiple instruments), 

I'd say this falls under the general category of enriching our cultural understanding. Like to appreciate great athletes, it helps if you were once a so-so athlete. The same with music -- knowing a little bit about playing greatly improves our appreciation of those who do it well. 

not taking shit from anyone (if it can be helped), 

Yes, if this means just walking away. If it means that we take it as an excuse to give shit back, then I don't think so. Way too many people say "I'll treat you well unless you're an asshole, and then I'll be an asshole right back." It's way too easy to justify being an asshole. 

In fact not being an asshole is just a good thing. Other people don't control my behavior. 

cultivating a healthy sense of detachment from the things you love (you can be somewhat attached, just not to the point of being overly sentimental about things),

This is somewhat tricky for me, because in a way I think that loving something means that you are very much "attached" to it. 

But I agree that sentimentality is shallow. 

knowing when to give up, 

Absolutely. This is wisdom.

being a satisfactory sexual partner, 

Yes, because good qualities in bed are the same as good qualities out of bed: generosity, patience, creativity, empathy. 

condemning people who make loud noises, being comfortable with your natural unwashed self, etc.

People who intentionally make unnecessary loud noises are inconsiderate, self-centered, and thick-headed. 

I'd say there's nothing wrong with being a bit dirty until it gets to the point that it's similar to making a loud noise -- if it bugs the people around you then you're not being considerate enough. 

In general I'd add that a good person wants to put as little negativity into the world as he can. The ideal would be to leave positivity in one's wake.

Bold mind - 
No everyone doesn't, nor does everyone care.

Your bent toward your own superiority is tiresome.

[Belacqua]

On that note, it is true that ignorance is bliss, so dragging people out of their bliss to point out your pet peeves really doesn't seem effective, kind or helpful. I don't think I've ever won anyone over to my perspective with... "You know you're stupid because xyz"  There's a world of difference between a straight shooter and a browbeater. You might want to cogitate on where you fall on that spectrum.

I agree with you here. And this is why it's so strange to me that so many people type insults to Ahriman.

It's pretty clear that pointing out his flaws to him doesn't have an improving effect. 

And the insults don't make him feel bad, so they're not working as punishment.

The fact that people continue tells us more about them. Is there pleasure in insulting someone, once the consensus decides that it's OK to insult him? 

If it's not about the pleasure of insulting, then why do people do it?

[onlinebiker]

On that note, it is true that ignorance is bliss, so dragging people out of their bliss to point out your pet peeves really doesn't seem effective, kind or helpful. I don't think I've ever won anyone over to my perspective with... "You know you're stupid because xyz"  There's a world of difference between a straight shooter and a browbeater. You might want to cogitate on where you fall on that spectrum.

If it's not about the pleasure of insulting, then why do people do it?

Just honing a necessary skill....

[tackattack]

As olb says , it’s honing a social skill. That scale is expressing outrage, and frequently the release of tension, adrenaline and dopamine that entails. It does feel good to express your negative feeling often. We’ve all done it. That doesn’t make it right , or just or productive. The overall point I was making was what feels good to you doesn’t always feel good to everyone else. A consciensous person will weigh their words. , but it’s damn near impossible to be that way 100% of the time. [/2 cents]