Why some humans are so evil: double standards and irreligion

[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.

[Nay_Sayer]

I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?

You're a soulless robot.  

[Catholic_Lady]

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^^

[drfuzzy]

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I don't fear any of those things, yet I have never committed atrocities. Why is that?

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To become an animal like that, you need to train yourself and train your mind to be so cruel.
Some people receive the training for free: fatcats take their money and leave them to rot and become more "stiff" as the time goes; not intentionally, but when corruption invades a place, lots go to poverty. Expose them through media and culture to violence; and there is your army of freaks.

All these torture methods originated in "heathen" societies -like the Aztec society-. Back when heathens dominated Europe; for example; fear of judgement day was non existing, and torture methods were so terrible. Christianity cured the playing with peoples' souls, but the heathen history left its imprint on the faith. That's why as torture receded in Arabia with the advent of Islam; it increased to terrible levels with the Crusades and the Inquisitions. And now; as Muslims turned away from their faith, torture came back to haunt the region.

You might oppose torture as a person; but still there are people like "Trump" who say "Torture Works". And they are leaders.
God gave you the heart to hate these acts. We are born with a compassion mechanism inside of us. It's your choice to enrich it or kill it.

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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.

[Catholic_Lady]

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.

[FatAndFaithless]

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.

[Cyberman]

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.

[Minimalist]

Why are some humans this evil?

Usually because of some fucking god or other such primitive shit.

[Cyberman]

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.

[Catholic_Lady]

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.