If you don’t agree with the concept of good or bad people, you dont have to answer just down vote. If you think a person is good or bad based on where they were born and live you don’t have to answer just down vote.
Through their actions.
Most people are good. Most people forget to be kind to others sometimes.
Some people forget to be kind to others more. I kinda don’t like that.
Some people need to cause others discomfort to feel like they are in control of their lives. I dislike that.
Some people feel that they have the right to or even should cause others discomfort because they have some kind of birthright granted by their religion, how aggressive their ancestors were, or some perception that they’ve worked harder than others. I feel that such people should either be rigorously reeducated or in some way removed from access to other humans entirely.
two things.
- how they treat other people
- what they don’t say
first one is pretty easy. don’t treat other people like pieces of shit, or you’re a piece of shit.
second one, when they see something happening that is wrong and do nothing. you’re a piece of shit.
I believe people can be good in different ways. I had a friend who had some batshit insane religious beliefs (Baptist), like she said it was worse to kill yourself than someone else, because then you couldn’t repent. But she would do anything for a friend, I had an emergency and she kept my kids even though she had a job interview, as an example. So she was good in actions and I’d argue evil in beliefs.
I have a coworker who is so mean & cutting, complains relentlessly about her husband, prickly person but does a great job at her job, loves her dog, and is great to work with because she Gets Shit Done. Is she good? Bad ?
I guess my bottom line criteria is can you care about others in at least some way, so empathy or sympathy is what makes it possible to be good.
Empathy
Yep. Real fucking easy answer for me.
If someone tells you a story about how they lost their dog, if that person tries to one-up them, dismiss them, or hurts them… They’re a bad person. No negotiation.
What if someone tells you a story of how they lost their spider?
I would be sad. I’m an arachnophobe, but Spiders are magnificent.
Spider warning
are their actions based on how they benefit them?
I also find it important to consider what they think of as “benefitting themselves”.
If good vs bad is dependent upon their actions, then someone extremely selfish can be seen as “good”, just if they have enough ability to think long term and desire a future that would end up making them act “good”.
If good vs bad is dependent upon their thoughts, then good luck finding out what people think. What they say will be completely different from what they think and a lot of them just realise they can easily get away with contradicting themselves as long as they do so in front of someone powerless.
One of my tests as I’ve grown older is whether or not that person is capable of treating someone else’s children as their own.
Both my father and step father did, so I didn’t realize how rare of an attribute this is, nor did I realize how evil not having this attribute can make some seemingly good people behave.
It’s all about empathy. If they lack empathy or kindness then fuck them. I don’t want them in my life and I prefer not to interact with them.
Thats fair
Everyone will name some virtue they consider themselves to possess, and then use that to judge someone else.
I do the same thing almost everyone else in here actually does. I ask, ‘how much are they like me?’ Because, we all think of ourselves as being a good person. If I’m shocked and repulsed by something they do, because I wouldn’t do that, then they are a “bad” person.
A few will say the opposite, “If they don’t do what I do, then they’re better than me, so they’re probably a ‘good’ person.” Because to those few, self-depreciation makes them a “good” person.
By watching show they behave when they can get away with doing the bad things.
This might be a hot take. I have a hard time with people who constantly drives above the speed limit. To me it says a lot about who they are.
E.g.
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they believe that rules don’t apply to them
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that they are egoistic
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that they are reckless and can’t foresee the potential consequences.
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that they lack empathy
I think this one depends on which country you’re in. Speed limits here in the US are artificially low. There is an unspoken agreement that everyone goes 5-10 over. I go to Ireland once every couple years and the speed limits on the rural back roads are more like the actual physical limit. Like 80 kph on a winding one lane road that’s barely paved. I’ve tried to reach the speed limit before and it didn’t feel safe at all.
I believe you’re right. In Denmark the speed limit on highways are 130 km/h and limited to 110 km/h near the larger cities. Country roads have limits of 80 km/h, some 90 km/h and some 70 km/h.
Driving 150 km/h on the highway is not safe, when everyone else is driving 130. And most of our highways only have two lanes in each direction.
The speed limit is also typically 80km/h on these barely paved roads in Denmark.
Funny enough I have a hard time with people who drive at the speed limit, for the exact same reasons.
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Heh. I assume everyone is a bad person unless they immensely prove that they aren’t. they can’t do lots of drugs, lead chaotic lives, be anti-intellectual, be a gossip, be greedy, a control freak, have an immoral job, use religion as a cudgel, have no integrity, be overly optimistic, have lots of kids, etc. etc.
Heh, “Respect all, Suspect all.”
Optimists can be cringe but do you really think it makes them bad people?
Thats a pretty cynical view but I get it.
How do they treat those that are “beneath” them? Customer service workers, pets, kids, etc. Anyone that they should have some sort of authority over.
This and the shopping cart test tells you a lot about a person.
In addition, how quick they are to declare others to be beneath them.
That’s definitely a big one for me.
THIS is the answer. You can tell a lot about a person on how they treat people that they cannot use to make themselves richer or look better.
When you die, you will bring no money with you. You will bring no material items. Your words will be forgotten. Your name will eventually crawl its way back into the abyss of non-existence from where it came along with all the others. The ONLY thing that will have mattered in the slightest in your measly and momentary existence is how you made others feel. To live a life with any sort of self-importance is to rob yourself of the only thing that matters in the entirety of the known universe.
I determine it by analyzing their attitude, behaviour, body language, their personal beliefs.
Reasonable
For me it is more about what does the person contribute for the betterment of society.
