Good intentions -- how much do they mean to you?

[Edwardo Piet]

[...]I put much more weight on good actions. And one of the best such actions is listening. Asking that person what you can do for them instead of just insisting on doing something specific because good intentions.

Very well said

[Edwardo Piet]

I value all the other responses too

[robvalue]

If good intentions are behind a bad outcome, how I feel about it depends on the person and the situation. Could they have reasonably predicted the bad consequences? If not, then I still appreciate the fact that they tried to do a good thing. That's putting it very simply, of course.

[Minimalist]

I heard that the road to hell was paved with them.

Good intentions are fine, but they can cause people to do horrible things. They think they're helping, even though they're not, which allows them to sleep easy at night while they hurt other people.

This.

Good intentions need to be examined on a case-by-case basis.  I'm sure the muslim fucktards who throw rocks at "adulterers" think they have good intentions, too.

[Edwardo Piet]

Good intentions mean an awful awful lot. It's the difference between a good and bad person. People who do harm but mean well can improve and are less likely to do harm on average even when they don't improve themselves. Deliberately malicious people are just assholes at best.

[LastPoet]

Well Hammy.... You are young. There are cases where "good" intentions can harm more than do good. I had a few cases in my life and being on the receiving end, I sometimes feel like saying the road to hell is paved with them.

[Jesster]

Well Hammy.... You are young. There are cases where "good" intentions can harm more than do good. I had a few cases in my life and being on the receiving end, I sometimes feel like saying the road to hell is paved with them.

This. Some of the worst things done to me were done with "good intentions". Intent does not matter to me when the action is harmful enough. The good intention excuse also allows the offender to continue acting that way instead of learning from the mistake.

[Edwardo Piet]

The good news is I don't hurt people even with good intentions I'm harmless

[LastPoet]

Or so you either are lucky or you are carefull like me. If I feel like helping someone, I usually talk privately with the person(s) and say "It would be no problem to help you with X"

[Whateverist]

I don't know how to politely respond to this thread without sounding sarcastic.

Okay, that didn't work.  But it wasn't rude either.