(October 10, 2017 at 1:05 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I started a poll thread yesterday asking people if they thought of themselves as good. I answered the poll myself (yes) and also stated that I think most people/the average person are generally good.
I do feel that way. But nonetheless there is something that has always bothered me about that sentiment.
The thing is, most of us don't rape, murder, steal, cheat on our spouse, etc (whatever it is that might make us "bad people")... simply because we neither have the desire to nor the opportunity to. Especially with rape and kill. We can pat ourselves on the back for never having done anything like that, but really it's just pure luck that we weren't born with the genetic desire for those things, and/or raised in such a way or culture that might lead us to it. Its pure luck that I don't have the genetic predisposition to want to have sex with multiple men and so I stay loyal to mine. But if we wanted to do something really bad and we had the opportunity to, would we do it?
Does it really speak to our character when we've never done anything really bad simply because we've never had the desire/opportunity to do it? When was the last time we resisted doing something (even something really small) that we wanted to do and could do, but didnt simply because we thought it was wrong? And if we always do the wrong thing every single time we want to and have the opportunity to despite knowing its wrong, are we really that different from the person who rapes every time he feels like it and can? If so, the only difference between him and us is desire and opportunity.
Maybe saying "im a good person because ive never killed, raped, stolen, cheated, abused anyone, etc," when the desire/opportunity to do those things was never there to begin with, isnt a good measurement of character. Maybe character should be measured by the times we wanted to do something we knew in our hearts is immoral, had the opportunity to do it, but chose not to simply for the sake of doing the right thing. Unfortunately, off the top of my head, I can think of a handful of times I've resisted immorality, but not overwhelmingly. Maybe none of us are really as good as we think we are.
As Dumbledore said, "There comes a time in life when we must choose between what is easy and what is right." When that happens, how many times do we take the easy road?
Thoughts?
The last quote has a nice ring to it, but again, since "right" means something different to the individual, even that is a loaded cliche.
I look at the world naturally, without clubs, and don't even give my fellow atheists a pass.
"right" to me isn't demanding my own utopia that others have to follow, but I would argue that "right" is anything that avoids violence as much as possible and that which fosters more cooperation.
And I also hate this bullshit of "hard vs easy".
Evolution isn't either or, but both.
I think especially on the right, economically speaking, they have far more liars whom try to convince those below them that work has to always be hard. No, I see no fucking point in that one bit if humans constantly invent things to make their lives easier. We always hear in the west, "I worked hard so my kids lives would be easier".
Cant have it both ways then. Work can be productive and easy at the same time, that is why we invent things. Some inventions took longer to figure out and more sweat than others sure. But some human inventions start by dumb luck too.
I think for workers at least, the better rested they are, the more they can afford things, the more independent they can be and thus more productive. But no, I don't like how the global economy has been a race for cheaper and cheaper labor, because all that does is allow the rich to suck the money up and treat humans like machines.
But I agree most humans don't rape and murder, most simply want to survive. I simply don't agree that our species morality is being magically handed down to us from above or is coming out of old books.
