Are other humans mostly good or mostly bad?

Question

And the follow up question is do you think you, yourself, are mostly good or mostly bad?

For Christians who want to participate in this survey, we'll accept as a given that we're all sinners, equally, and that to get to heaven, we all need to accept the blood sacrifice of Christ. But that's all about sin from God's perspective. From our perspective, in the here and now, thinking about how polite and patient you are with others, what volunteer work you do, how you love your family and friends, how well you perform your job and how you treat coworkers and/or customers, etc., are you mostly good or mostly bad?

Answer 1

Are other humans mostly good or mostly bad?



For what? Fertilizer, fish bait, insulation, fence posts?



OK, enough whimsy. As an active, thinking Christian (Episcopalian) I did volunteer work and loved my family - with joy or exasperation, at times. Treated co-workers by following the Golden Rule, and had been brought up to think of how I was affecting others. Also am naturally empathetic - when not being oblivious. Worked in a career treating people in their time of need (paramedic). When dealing with border-line mental patients and street people, etc who were repeat customers, abusing the system, it was a challenge to be as I would like to be. Not saying I met the challenge all of the time, but was mostly good a great majority of the time.



As an active, thinking atheist - for the last dozen years at least of my career - I was exactly the same. If anything, better at being empathetic, because years of therapy and life experience had developed an ability to understand people's problems more deeply, accurately. Loved my family a bit more easily, once I was 'out of the closet' as an atheist. Very active in volunteer work still. So...very mostly good. (Great grammar, huh?)



My overall experience of my fellow human beings? Mostly good. Definitely. As co-workers, as patients, as upset family members, even as deeply damaged human beings - the mostly good part came through. This has also been my experience in daily life.



I also think the average person can be stupid, have poor or limited judgement, especially when dealing with a larger issue - but be mostly good when in a room with other individuals.

Answer 2

While most people think they are good, my view many have issues & for quite a few that makes them less than good at least part of the time, unable to love in a compassionate, non-hurtful way even when the going gets tough. (Not romantic love, but love of another human being.)



Just the card aisle in the pharmacy tells me this. Every time I wonder who buys those cards that say "I was going to get you a present but decided to get you a card & spend the money on myself." Or "I know your wonderful because you were smart enough to choose me as a friend, or raise me as your child." A good 1/3 of the cards are like this. They are selfish, lacking in compassion, unable to give love in a straightforward way... and make me really wonder... who buys them enough to be popular in the card aisle.



I meet plenty of people who really do try to be nice or go out of their way for others, so it's not all bad.



But I hear plenty of stories of what people have said to each other. A spouse while divoricing says "I never loved you" so they can hurt the other more, when it's almost always a lie. Parents who use their kids to fill their own loneliness or needs. A mother who tells me "she likes her son-in-law more than her daughter" as we are causally talking for the first time during volunteer work. Often the difference between nice & not nice, is a person's willingness to look in side & learn what they are feeling so they can grow. Then even a hurtful instance towards another can be reversed well enough. Many if not most people, have a very hard time doing that. Others are damaged & just can't help themselves. Still others, a small but powerful group are just psychopathic & we meet them every day, not just on cop shows.



I have hurt people & done things that I wish I'd known to do differently at the time. I try to keep my morals going, to be kind because it will make me stronger inside. I'd have to leave it to others to say if I'm mostly good or bad. The people in my life would say mostly good, but I'd sure hope they would if they're hanging around... Actually I've been told I'm unusually nice a few times in my life by friends & aquaintance & that's why I was puzzled (at those moments) by other people's behaviors...that what would be natural to me wasn't to most people & that was one of the things that made me worthwhile. Still again, that's the positive - I know I've done less than I should have at times.



Ask a tough question - I'm going to ramble :).

Answer 3

See my answer to a previous question of yours regarding "other humans".



We live in an illusory world, a black and white universe in which everything is either this or that, good or bad, positive or negative, on or off. Close examination, usually over many years, reveals that this duality is smoke and mirrors, that it creates a playground for all these egos but that it basically isn't the case.



The reality underlying all of this, when duality is seen through, is, as I understand it, unfathomable, unspeakable - and One.



In Truth, good and bad don't apply.



(I haven't seen the completeness of this myself, so I guess I fulfill the dictum that "those who talk don't know - those who know don't talk.")

Answer 4

They aren't real, first of all. We are born naturally good, but hypnotized early in life. Once our brains have been f____ed with, we can be very bad indeed. Who we are good or bad to depends on our relative ranks in socioeconomic status, color, religion, sex, and a few other immaterial things that we follow blindly from our social conditioning.



We are now only POTENTIALLY good, which makes us mostly bad.

Answer 5

About 50/50 I suppose.



Let me look up the definitions to be more accurate.



•having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified; "good news from the hospital"; "a good report card"; "when ...

•full: having the normally expected amount; "gives full measure"; "gives good measure"; "a good mile from here"

•morally admirable

•estimable: deserving of esteem and respect; "all respectable companies give guarantees"; "ruined the family's good name"

•beneficial: promoting or enhancing well-being; "an arms limitation agreement beneficial to all countries"; "the beneficial effects of a temperate climate"; "the experience was good for her"

•agreeable or pleasing; "we all had a good time"; "good manners"

•of moral excellence; "a genuinely good person"; "a just cause"; "an upright and respectable man"

•adept: having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude; "adept in handicrafts"; "an adept juggler"; "an expert job"; "a good mechanic"; "a practiced marksman"; "a proficient engineer"; "a lesser-known but no less skillful composer"; "the effect was achieved by skillful retouching"

•thorough; "had a good workout"; "gave the house a good cleaning"

•dear: with or in a close or intimate relationship; "a good friend"; "my sisters and brothers are near and dear"

•dependable: financially sound; "a good investment"; "a secure investment"

•most suitable or right for a particular purpose; "a good time to plant tomatoes"; "the right time to act"; "the time is ripe for great sociological changes"

•resulting favorably; "it's a good thing that I wasn't there"; "it is good that you stayed"; "it is well that no one saw you"; "all's well that ends well"

•effective: exerting force or influence; "the law is effective immediately"; "a warranty good for two years"; "the law is already in effect (or in force)"

•capable of pleasing; "good looks"



Very relative word, relies on other words with vague definitions for meaning.



Bad.



•having undesirable or negative qualities; "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"; "a bad little boy"; "clothes in bad ...

•very intense; "a bad headache"; "in a big rage"; "had a big (or bad) shock"; "a bad earthquake"; "a bad storm"

•feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad'); "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"

•(of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition; "bad meat"; "a refrigerator full of spoilt food"

•regretful: feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone; "felt regretful over his vanished youth"; "regretful over mistakes she had made"; "he felt bad about breaking the vase"

•not capable of being collected; "a bad (or uncollectible) debt"

•below average in quality or performance; "a bad chess player"; "a bad recital"

•nonstandard; "so-called bad grammar"

•not financially safe or secure; "a bad investment"; "high risk investments"; "anything that promises to pay too much can't help being risky"; "speculative business enterprises"

•physically unsound or diseased; "has a bad back"; "a bad heart"; "bad teeth"; "an unsound limb"; "unsound teeth"

•capable of harming; "bad air"; "smoking is bad for you"

•characterized by wickedness or immorality; "led a very bad life"

•badly: with great intensity (`bad' is a nonstandard variant for `badly'); "the injury hurt badly"; "the buildings were badly shaken"; "it hurts bad"; "we need water bad"

•reproduced fraudulently; "like a bad penny..."; "a forged twenty dollar bill"

•badly: very much; strongly; "I wanted it badly enough to work hard for it"; "the cables had sagged badly"; "they were badly in need of help"; "he wants a bicycle so bad he can taste it"



Bad seems to be associated with decay, while good is associated with productivity, and life givig qualities.



I this way, and by this single referece to these words, I would say I am "good", as I seem to be developing, but could be "bad" also if I happened to get "harmed", or could be "bad" as I cause the decay of things around me, being a human being and using the earth's resources..

Answer 6

Good and bad aren't adequate labels to use when describing humans. Even if you put mostly in front of them, you're still only describing your perception of the humans you have met and heard about.



I'd be willing to say that in my perception, humans are mostly human, although I have a sneaking suspicion that some might in fact be robots :D

Answer 7

I'm still floored by my 6th grade reading of Anne Frank's Diary. She said that she believed that all people are fundamentally good. Well, if she can believe that, then I can believe it too. No matter how pessimistic I might be feeling, I've never seen even half of what she did, so I have to agree with her youthful wisdom.



Here's the quote:

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."

It still knocks me out when I think of it. It's really too much to wrap my mind around when I consider it all in proper context.

Answer 8

Statistically most people are pretty good. --- else the police would have no chance of protecting us.



Good= law abiding, and are willing to help others (for short periods of time), not prone to commit the major crimes of Murder,rape, theft, et al as a way of life.



Do I think of myself as a "good person"? Yes



Am I sometimes grouchy even to those I love? yes --- But, I settle down readily.

Answer 9

Based on the works by themselves, I think others would vote mostly good. But I'm too painfully aware of the darkness and evil in me. The stuff I try so hard to hide from others. So if God were voting, it would be mostly evil.

Answer 10

While people are generally intolerant, bigoted, and overall, well stupid, I believe we as a society have the greatest potential to be good, so therefore I guess I would say we are generally good, with a ever increasing potential to be stupid.

Answer 11

We're mostly good, but sometimes have bad days.

Answer 12

People are inherently sinful, but that doesn't separate them from a forgiving God.

Answer 13

everyone is a different shade of grey :)



im mostly good, never perfect never shall be but i never killed someone or did anything really bad

Answer 14

i think mostly good

Answer 15

mostly good

Answer 16

People are. All else is semantics.