You never call, you never write! ... You're the nastiest dirtbag I know in this stinking city! ... If you don't wanna talk to your mother, just avoid me like usual, huh?
Oh, please. That doesn't even sound like him! The President's an idiot, you don't sound like an idiot. If you don't wanna talk to your mother, just avoid me like usual, huh?
Some would say that is what makes someone a good person in the first and place, that they try to be one. Even if how often or seldom they fail to do so is a gradient. Extreme exceptions are exceptions. Personally I doubt it was an effortless burden even for Fred Rogers.
I don't like to say "good person" and "bad person" because I feel like it implies that there is some objective scale of goodness that people can be compared to, and I think that is simply not the case. So I would rather think of this question as "Do you have a positive opinion of yourself?"
No, no I don't. My opinion of myself is extremely negative.
I think there are many--possibly even most--"bad people" who have positive opinions of themselves. Dark triad and all that.
And then of course plenty of "good people" with self-esteem issues who will always have a bad opinion of themselves.
There should be at least a degree of objectivity when it comes to determining goodness. The bar might be low, but there is a difference between somebody who generally thinks of others (considerately) and who generally does not.
The reason I try to avoid using the phrases "good person" and "bad person" is that it implies that there are people who simply don't do bad things. "Bad people do bad things, and I'm a good person, so I really don't need to critically examine my own actions and how they affect others."
Like must people I have kneejerk opinions and reactions, though I analyze them before I let them loose. I ask myself "what would a good person do?" and then I do that.
Yes. I used to say "no" but that was some fucked up internalized religious self-hate shit. I am good. Not perfect, but definitely good within my moral framework and the framework of any people I care about. I have one particular area I'm wrestling with to be "better" and I find it's far more useful to focus on improving that than on self-flagellating over how "bad" I am.
I think I do more good than harm and am satisfied enough with that. Not like there's a punch card system where I can do 9 good things and get a free pass to do something bad but I know I'll accidentally screw things up sometimes or make intentional decisions where the least bad option available still isn't great.
A good person is someone who has (almost) no vices. There are obviously varying degrees, and not all vices are equal. But my bar for clearing "good person" is pretty damned high, and I personally don't make it by a long shot.
If that is your definition then I definitely do not pass as a good person. I have many vices. I drink, I smoke weed, I play on the computer too much. I make a lot of money and I spend probably more on myself than I should and I should share more. I used to not eat meat but I have been again for a few years now and it's a constant feeling of guilt there, too.
But I would never lie or steal or cheat and that's kind of where I would set the bar.
The idea of “vices” there is really interesting to me. What about weed and video games is “bad,” other than that they’re pleasurable?
I have the kind of mental illness where I spent 20 years feeling genuinely bad for stealing a stamp in first grade, but I can’t really see me getting stoned as a “bad” thing.
I am a burnt out loser who can’t go a day without weed
You're thinking about it wrong. You're using the language of the oppressor.
You're a medicinal marijuana patient. You suffer from an illness you didn't earn or ask for. Cannabis is the medicine that manages your symptoms. If you don't take your medicine, your symptoms get worse.
I relate pretty heavily - weed is the only thing I’ve found after years of therapy etc that turns my brain off and lets me enjoy things. It’s just so goddamned nice to have the option to enjoy food and music and just being.
I do edibles mostly - it helps with the cost and stink factors. It helped in ruining my marriage but it was doomed anyway.
I think our moral intuitions are out of alignment with a logical consideration of good and bad. So I'm not a bad person according to my moral intuitions (not the same thing as being a good person) but also pretty much everyone (including me) is a bad person according to logical consideration.
(My logic is that only humans appear to be moral agents, but non-human animals deserve moral consideration and there are a lot more non-human animals than there are humans. Thus even seemingly simple questions like "Is it good to save someone's life?" depend on whether it is better to prevent that person from eating meat by letting him die or to have him contribute to environmental degradation by remaining alive, and thereby prevent wild animals that would have suffered from being born. The effect on the person is not the major deciding factor.)
Not even by my own standards, which is not much. Do I try? Sometimes.
I try to be good whenever I can remember or if the opportunity is presented to me without much cost. Being good has a cost in terms of effort and discipline, and yes, I fail at that. For example: I may look the other way whenever someone's suffering, but when I can, I try to do what I can.
And this is why I hate it when people say I am a good person. I know I am not, that I can do so much more. I don't even think I'm worth the resources I consume.
How would you define a good person? How would you describe your actions? What makes you a bad person? Apathy does not equal malice. If you saw someone bleeding out in the street would you call emergency services and/or attempt to render aid?
A good person to me, well, the simplest definition I can come up with is someone who does good according to their own ethics and moral law. And yes, provided the bystander effect doesn't claim me, I'd call emergency services if I see someone bleeding out on the street, or at least ask if someone has already called them.
Everyone does bad things from time to time but that doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Are you claiming to only or mostly do bad deeds? I'm trying to understand. A guilty conscience can trap you.
It's more of a failure to live up to ideas of what is good, IMO. Like, doing what I know is bad, continuing to do it despite knowing it's bad.
For a more concrete example, I know that I have poor sleeping habits, and yet I still persist in letting my sleep schedule wander around. Or when I have poor dietary habits despite knowing that it's bad for me. I also note that I do give advice that I don't take for myself.
I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about ethics? I also eat like shit and have a poor sleep schedule but that doesn't make me a bad person. Am I misunderstanding?
Well, that's the difference, I suppose. As far as I am concerned, doing bad things that I know are bad is a moral and ethical failure. It might not be the same for everyone, and I am only speaking of how I see myself, not how others see me.
My feelings with respect to people calling me good despite my own self-image is just that, feeling. I don't really tell other people that they're wrong when they call me a 'good person,' but I do tell them that no, I have my shortcomings too.
I don't know you but if people are telling you that you're a good person than you very well may be a good person. No one is without sin and we've all done things we regret. Most people who are bad people (if you wanna call it that) really don't see themselves as such. They convince themselves that they're in the right. Self awareness counts for something.
My moral compass operates on the principle: "If everyone else did what I do, would it make the world a better or worse place?" If the answer is worse, I generally don't do it - with a few exceptions. I think this way of thinking also gives some perspective on the true impact of even small things. Throwing a candy wrapper on the ground might not seem like a big deal but if everyone does it we'll drown in trash. Or conversely, if everyone picked a single piece of trash from the ground and put it in the garbage even once a week, the world would be litter-free in no time. Me doing the little thing is doing what can realistically be expected from one person.
Also my job entails locally reversing entropy so you could say I'm taking concrete steps to make the world a bit better every day. And my customers are thankful for it.
I think I put more good into the world than bad. Whether I put in more good than I've consumed, I wonder about that a lot. I've been very fortunate in life.
A long time ago, I was trying to figure out why I had so much trouble making friends. I talked to the few connections I had and did some online searches. Paraphrasing, I found an analysis similar to the following:
Friendship is like two people holding containers of water. In this metaphor, one person is holding a drinking glass, one is holding a bucket. If the person with the drinking glass offers ever bit of water they have, the person with the bucket feels it's inadequate. If the person with the bucket offers all of their water, the other person feels overwhelmed.
When I read that, I was quite a bit younger and found it fairly profound. I shared it publicly in several places. Every person who saw it - including those I considered to be the metaphorical drinking glass people - declared themselves the bucket person. I did the same of myself so, whether I was right or wrong, I can't blame any of those people.
In conclusion, I try to be a good person and I think I largely succeed, but experience has taught me that I shouldn't trust people's judgment of themselves. I'd like to think I'm an exception, but I'm no more exempt from this than anyone else I've observed, just - predictably - less able to see it in myself.
Eh, I try. I think I succeed more often than not, but most bad people think they're good, right? I try to calibrate against the broader society as a whole, but it often seems like society isn't really aligned with goodness anyway. So here I am, trying to suss out the good parts of society and align with that, and trying to suss out the bad parts and follow my own moral compass there. But again, bad people probably generally think they're good, so it's a bit of a conundrum innit?
Minimize harm to others, and try to help as much as you can. Except sometimes harming bad people somewhat is good, and sometimes help is counterproductive.
I'm confident that I am a person. I try to emulate what good is like. Life is hard.
Heck no for several reasons. First of all, I straight up knew something was wrong with me since I was 7, I just didn't know what. Had nightmares about it.
I was selfishly oblivious, never had many friends, and was inconsiderate to others. I mostly spent my time playing videogames. When my parents were struggling, I fussed about small things, took up the toilet all the time, I didn't study much at all.
Because of my fear of people, I didn't believe I could ever get a job, so I almost never tried to get a simple cashier job, and lived off my parents. I would go between trying to learn programing, absurd projects, and just going back to videogames.
I hurt many people, many insults, unjust accusations, made many enemies. I could never stick to rules or promises, I was always a coward, and never able to stick with anything.
Just some of the best people I meet, not wanting to be around me, how little I contribute to communities, and friends, is proof enough that I am a fundamentaly bad person.
I doubt that can ever change, so my goal is just to prevent others from being the same, if at all possible.
I understand that I don't deserve the things that normal people do, and I don't expect them anymore.
🫂
There will be causes for you hurting people. Heck, it is not easy keeping friends with a fear of people I recon.
I am not saying that what you did wasn't hurtful, but maybe it made sense. Maybe you didn't know how else to act at the time.
But the fact that you reflected on it and know you could have done better, that you try to prevent others from being like you; do you think that's what a bad person would do? No.
You are not a bad person, you are struggeling. If you can, seek therapy or counseling.
You deserve the things everybody does. You deserve happiness.
On deserving anything - none of us deserve what we get. There are so many who work so hard and get nothing, so many who do nothing and get so much. I often think I am lucky because I'm not in pain constantly, can see and hear and feel, and that is more than many people get, but I don't deserve it more than they do - that just isn't the way things work.
I do think you can earn things and deserve them (sort of) in that way. Like wages.
I think my impact on the world is a nut positive. I make it a point to help other people when I can, I've given a bunch of strangers a jumpstart in the parking lot, helped them change a tire, gave a stranded bicyclist a lift home when his pedal broke, clear my schedule to help my friends move, put my shopping cart back the right way and even sometimes straighten out the ones that were carelessly pushed in the general direction of the cart corral by some degenerate, and generally try not to be a bother to others.
As for whether that makes me a good person, I think that's kind of up for debate. At my core, my motivations tend to be pretty selfish. I do those good deeds because I want others to do the same kinds of things for me. If I need help moving, I can count on a small army of friends and acquaintances showing up to help me because I've always made time for them. I want to live in a world where other people treat me the right way, and if I'm not even willing to do that, why should I count on others to do that? Not that it's all a 1:1 transactional thing, I don't expect every good deed I do to directly come back around to benefit me, but I do kind of hope that I'm sort of kicking off a chain of "paying it forward" that maybe inspires even more people to do the same and eventually I get to be the recipient of some random acts of kindness.
So a lot of the time it's not really some sort of selfless altruism that drives me to do the right thing, which is a big part of what people imagine when they think of a "good" person.
I do the things that good people do because it feels like the right thing to do, up until the point where I feel like I'm risking overextending myself and then I stop doing that.
I feel bad when I do not do a good thing.
At the same time I know I have done bad things. I have accepted my fault in those situations and apologized to the people that I have hurt in the past and I am still trying to become a better person. So I am good enough to pass for a good person, but I am not an objectively purely good person.
One could argue that goodness without the capacity for badness isn't a virtue. For some it's just a survival tactic. It's the only tool on their belt. A truly good person has the capacity to do harm when the situation requires it but they can keep that side of them at bay when it's not needed. They're kind but can't be walked over. When shit hits the fan, the person who can only do good is of no use to anyone.
Ehh kinda gave up on good and evil. It's better to say pro/anti social. Im learning to be more social.
But I'd do more "good things" than most people but I'd still say I have a lot more that I can do, and I could be more proactive in general.
It's like you can think your a good person for picking up other people trash, but then realized that people dump carbon dioxide into the air and don't do anything about it.
On one hand I strive to live a fundamentally “good” life. I have a work ethic, I love and take good care of my cat, I do my level best to be a good dad for my kid, and I try to be a good neighbor. I take care of my physical and mental health. I keep a tidy house and my car in good working order.
On the other hand, well, let’s just say I have done things. Vile things. Criminal things. I have ruined lives and I have destroyed other peoples relationships. I have partaken in acts of debauchery that would make Caligula blush. And here’s the kicker: Not only do I not regret those deeds, but in some cases I revel in them. And I might not be done.
I’ve stopped caring. The worst people in my country decide everything for the rest of us. At this point I don’t care about being good, I just want to exert my will and trod them into the dirt at every opportunity
When I was in my early 20s I would have said yes without a doubt.
Now, a TBI turned me into a manipulative being lusting for satisfaction never to be found without dropping personality continuity from when I genuinely was better. I go to weekly therapy, am heavily medicated, and try not to step on anyone's toes anymore. I have fallen so far there's not many toes around to step on anymore.
I'll help the elderly neighbors out with their potlucks, moving furniture, and bringing in groceries. I'll stand up and defend LGBT rights and groups otherwise disparaged. I'll befriend those who might be misunderstood like myself and give them company when others might shun them.
All of this serves me though, and being a "good person" was not something that took this much active effort to think about before developing these mental/personality disorders from the head injury.
Leonard Cohen's last song released days before he died was called "You Want It Darker." One of the verses is:
"They're lining up the prisoners and the guards are taking aim,
I struggled with some demons, they were middle class and tame,
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim,
You want it darker, we kill the flame."
Anyway, that's me, in the middle class. I could be better, but however bad I am, I'm still on the tame level.
Overall yeah, I’m a pretty good person. I care about others, I give my time and money to those less fortunate, I try to be kind, non judgmental and helpful to everyone not just people I like. I’ve struggled a lot in my life mentally and physically, I grew up ugly and disabled and as cliche as it is to say it, it’s made me a better person.
Well I hate a bunch of people I've never even met and the list of people I wish death on seems to grow longer every day, but also I feel like those people deserve it. So maybe, I guess?
Eh, probably. But more importantly I always thought I was weird, but after working at a library for a bit I’ve decided today that I’m merely unusual. On one hand, a sad day but on the other hand I’ve finally got something for my annual goal review.
My intentions are to promote human flourishing, and I try to follow my intentions. If I was talking about someone else, I would unequivocally qualify that as being a good person. So by transitive purposes I just have to qualify myself as one.
I feel like I'm an asshole 99% of the time, but that could be my anxiety and disgustingly low self worth talking. Yes I see a therapist about both and other things.
Not really. Most of the things that I do are very neutral, and there are a few things that I do that are pretty awful, although of limited scope in harms. I'm mostly nice to people, I try to help where I can, but these aren't really exemplary things, these are just part of living in a society.
Yes, I try really hard to do what's right and I think deeply about that that means. However I do have some negative emotions that can lead me astray in the moment at times. But not so much as to outweigh the good things I've done.
I generally try to do more good than bad, and I try not to hurt anyone. But good people probably don't hope that the US president and most of the billionaires stop breathing...
"Good" and "bad" are subjective terms. I accept myself for who I am regardless of anyone else's opinions. I'm happy with who I am and my opinion is the only one I need to be worried about.
I'm fortunate enough that it's not hard to be good. I've rarely, if ever, been forced into situations where I have to cause any kind of hardship to anyone to get my needs met. I try to leverage the privilege I've been afforded to act in ways that are more globally conscientious (i.e., I have the time and money to choose ethical alternatives to Amazon, live in a city with public transit, can afford non-meat alternatives and still have a nutritionally complete diet, etc.)
I try to be socially conscientious. I try to limit the problems I cause to others. I take care of people where I can and say hello to my neighbors. I give to charity and sponsor artists. I've broken up a street fight and walked a stranger through a scary part of town because she asked me to.
But if I had to make the really hard choice I'm not sure if I could. "I'm not a coward I've just never been tested. I'd like to think if I was I would pass."
I stopped trying to be a good person, instead I’m trying to be a person I can be proud of. Whether the action prioritizes myself or the others does not matter if it makes me glad. A huge part of goodness is established on prioritizing other living beings which,I believe, forgets the most important one, the self.
Better as I get older at least. Other people seem to think I am a good person but I guess we all have impossible standards for ourselves. By Dorothy Parker standards no. "If you have two coats you stole one from the poor." I don't have literally two coats but a dozen sweaters, which are short season items here.
To the extent you can be good and live within the system, yes.
If standing before God and he asks if I did everything I possibly could for those who needed it most, no, I have not, nor have I always been a friend to myself.
At one point in my life. Good people make good decisions every day to stay good. We don’t have the luxury of goodness in America anymore. Not going to pretend like this horrible society isn’t turning me into a fucking monster just like everyone else.
I don't really think about it much. I'd say no, but I'm not a bad person either. I am willing to sacrifice my own interests for people I care about, but not for strangers. I'm kind to people, but I am not nice. I will encourage people to reconsider harmful behaviors, but enable them if they decide not to change. I have ghosted dozens of people for sometimes not very good reasons. I aspire to leave the world better than I've found it, but have spent my career making it worse.
All people think they are good humans. Even Hitler thought he was doing the best for his people. Good intentions don't make net positive people though.
I believe I am. I was dumb enough to make mistakes in my life like joining the US army. That's just one example but I've spent my later years encouraging people to make better choices than I have. I try to help people in their thought process over their "instincts". Even if I didn't do straight up evil in my life, I certainly observed it. I have spent my later life trying to keep people from making mistakes that will haunt them forever.
I'm certainly not zen by any means, I'm not perfect. But my hope is that people don't have the weight on their shoulders that I do. And its not just about saying no to joining the military. It's about having compassion for others. Actively finding compassion through understanding. I have turmoil over the regrets I have in life and I hope to lead people to avoid that by teaching them using the lessons I've learned in life. So yeah, I've done bad things, making me not a great person, but I use that experience to help others find a better path. I don't know if I can cleanse my "soul" or whatever. But my hope is that I can keep others from tarnishing theirs.
I still consider myself a good person because I've never done anything with evil intentions, and even when I was put into situations where I've been confronted with options to do so, I haven't done them. And when I've been put into situations where I had no option, I did what I could to avoid them. And now I encourage others to avoid them at all costs so they don't have that weighing on them. I feel I've done more good than harm by advocating thought and introspection over going with the flow than by ignoring the voice.
The people that look up to me for serving, I tell them it's not a good thing. I tell them there's no heroism in it. You don't go to war and come out as iron man or thor. You come out dysfunctional at best. And I think I've made people understand the true cost of doing harm to others, even in self defense, that it isn't free of charge on your consciousness.
I feel like I'm a good dad. I'm on my own. His mom took off without warning and ruined her relationship with him. I have been his only safety for a decade. She's around, but doesn't give a shit about anything that matters to him.
Everything else, I try to be a decent person. I don't take what isn't mine and try to be whatever my mouth says. I don't really think there is much more to being "good".
Meh, according to who? Good and evil are subjective. God's are subjective. Morals are flexible. I am fucking good as fuck compared to many. I am also selfish and hateful compared to many. Also, this question is simplistic and childish.
I know with some of my strong beliefs ( not counting people who willingly use genAI when not required of them as people ) that I am by no means a good perspn by a few standards.
The concept of "good" is subjective tbh. So no. I dont see myself as a "good" person, i'm just a person. We all struggle, we all fall short, not becaue we are "bad", but because we are freaking humans.
156 replies
Certainly not
Yes, but I am an asshole at the same time
I am very very good. At being an asshole.
You can't be an asshole and a good person at the same time.
yes you can, i am living proof
Negative, I am a meat popsicle.
Well...
Oh, please. That doesn't even sound like him! The President's an idiot, you don't sound like an idiot. If you don't wanna talk to your mother, just avoid me like usual, huh?
Define "good".
I'm not Fred Rogers good. I know that much.
Fred Rogers is the bar I try and constantly fall short on.
Don't feel bad about it. He wouldn't judge you for it, so why should anyone else? Especially yourself?
He still likes you just the way you are.
Yeah, but Billy Joel loves you just the way you are
And Rihanna loves the way you lie
Now that sax is in my head.
I'm not worthy.
Only you can define that which is why it is a tough question and why religion is bullshit.
Bro's k/d ratio in Vietnam is no joke
Not OP, but I'd say part of the question's spirit is to define "good" yourself and answer based on that.
I try to be.
Yes, exactly what I was going to say.
It’s a continuous process, not an innate quality.
Some would say that is what makes someone a good person in the first and place, that they try to be one. Even if how often or seldom they fail to do so is a gradient. Extreme exceptions are exceptions. Personally I doubt it was an effortless burden even for Fred Rogers.
To answer OP and repeat it again: I try to be.
I don't like to say "good person" and "bad person" because I feel like it implies that there is some objective scale of goodness that people can be compared to, and I think that is simply not the case. So I would rather think of this question as "Do you have a positive opinion of yourself?"
No, no I don't. My opinion of myself is extremely negative.
I think there are many--possibly even most--"bad people" who have positive opinions of themselves. Dark triad and all that.
And then of course plenty of "good people" with self-esteem issues who will always have a bad opinion of themselves.
There should be at least a degree of objectivity when it comes to determining goodness. The bar might be low, but there is a difference between somebody who generally thinks of others (considerately) and who generally does not.
The reason I try to avoid using the phrases "good person" and "bad person" is that it implies that there are people who simply don't do bad things. "Bad people do bad things, and I'm a good person, so I really don't need to critically examine my own actions and how they affect others."
I will leave that judgment to whomever eats me.
What show had people's insides be spaghetti? Rick and Morty i am pretty sure. Weird fucking episode. Poignant and absurd.
Chaotic good
Absolutely not.
No. I have many regrets. I try to do good but at the end of the day, I am a coward.
It's better to fail at being good than to succeed at being evil
I think that's a relative matter...
I mean do I think I'ma good person? Not really.
Do I look around and go "What the fuck is wrong with these sociopaths?" Yes, very much so.
I haven't seen this meme in a while 😆
I don't like the person I used to be. I'd like to think i'm a descent person now.
I can't make that kind of judgement to myself. Some people would say that I'm, others would say not.
it depends on perspective.
I try my best. I lead life with empathy for all people and creatures. We've all only got one world after all.
Like must people I have kneejerk opinions and reactions, though I analyze them before I let them loose. I ask myself "what would a good person do?" and then I do that.
Like the sum total of me, including the past? I'm a good person now, but I used to be a pretty shitty person by most metrics. Like, deplorable.
Yes. I used to say "no" but that was some fucked up internalized religious self-hate shit. I am good. Not perfect, but definitely good within my moral framework and the framework of any people I care about. I have one particular area I'm wrestling with to be "better" and I find it's far more useful to focus on improving that than on self-flagellating over how "bad" I am.
I think I do more good than harm and am satisfied enough with that. Not like there's a punch card system where I can do 9 good things and get a free pass to do something bad but I know I'll accidentally screw things up sometimes or make intentional decisions where the least bad option available still isn't great.
I reject the premise of this question.
Ich weise diese Unterstellungen zurück
No. And I'm highly suspicious of anyone claiming to be.
I am curious how you would define good person? As someone who feels like they are a good person I wonder what flaws I have that you see but I don't.
A good person is someone who has (almost) no vices. There are obviously varying degrees, and not all vices are equal. But my bar for clearing "good person" is pretty damned high, and I personally don't make it by a long shot.
If that is your definition then I definitely do not pass as a good person. I have many vices. I drink, I smoke weed, I play on the computer too much. I make a lot of money and I spend probably more on myself than I should and I should share more. I used to not eat meat but I have been again for a few years now and it's a constant feeling of guilt there, too.
But I would never lie or steal or cheat and that's kind of where I would set the bar.
The idea of “vices” there is really interesting to me. What about weed and video games is “bad,” other than that they’re pleasurable?
I have the kind of mental illness where I spent 20 years feeling genuinely bad for stealing a stamp in first grade, but I can’t really see me getting stoned as a “bad” thing.
You're thinking about it wrong. You're using the language of the oppressor.
You're a medicinal marijuana patient. You suffer from an illness you didn't earn or ask for. Cannabis is the medicine that manages your symptoms. If you don't take your medicine, your symptoms get worse.
I relate pretty heavily - weed is the only thing I’ve found after years of therapy etc that turns my brain off and lets me enjoy things. It’s just so goddamned nice to have the option to enjoy food and music and just being.
I do edibles mostly - it helps with the cost and stink factors. It helped in ruining my marriage but it was doomed anyway.
I think our moral intuitions are out of alignment with a logical consideration of good and bad. So I'm not a bad person according to my moral intuitions (not the same thing as being a good person) but also pretty much everyone (including me) is a bad person according to logical consideration.
(My logic is that only humans appear to be moral agents, but non-human animals deserve moral consideration and there are a lot more non-human animals than there are humans. Thus even seemingly simple questions like "Is it good to save someone's life?" depend on whether it is better to prevent that person from eating meat by letting him die or to have him contribute to environmental degradation by remaining alive, and thereby prevent wild animals that would have suffered from being born. The effect on the person is not the major deciding factor.)
Most of the time. I work at being good, kind to strangers, kind to service people,kind to myself.
Not even by my own standards, which is not much. Do I try? Sometimes.
I try to be good whenever I can remember or if the opportunity is presented to me without much cost. Being good has a cost in terms of effort and discipline, and yes, I fail at that. For example: I may look the other way whenever someone's suffering, but when I can, I try to do what I can.
And this is why I hate it when people say I am a good person. I know I am not, that I can do so much more. I don't even think I'm worth the resources I consume.
How would you define a good person? How would you describe your actions? What makes you a bad person? Apathy does not equal malice. If you saw someone bleeding out in the street would you call emergency services and/or attempt to render aid?
A good person to me, well, the simplest definition I can come up with is someone who does good according to their own ethics and moral law. And yes, provided the bystander effect doesn't claim me, I'd call emergency services if I see someone bleeding out on the street, or at least ask if someone has already called them.
Everyone does bad things from time to time but that doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Are you claiming to only or mostly do bad deeds? I'm trying to understand. A guilty conscience can trap you.
It's more of a failure to live up to ideas of what is good, IMO. Like, doing what I know is bad, continuing to do it despite knowing it's bad.
For a more concrete example, I know that I have poor sleeping habits, and yet I still persist in letting my sleep schedule wander around. Or when I have poor dietary habits despite knowing that it's bad for me. I also note that I do give advice that I don't take for myself.
I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about ethics? I also eat like shit and have a poor sleep schedule but that doesn't make me a bad person. Am I misunderstanding?
Well, that's the difference, I suppose. As far as I am concerned, doing bad things that I know are bad is a moral and ethical failure. It might not be the same for everyone, and I am only speaking of how I see myself, not how others see me.
My feelings with respect to people calling me good despite my own self-image is just that, feeling. I don't really tell other people that they're wrong when they call me a 'good person,' but I do tell them that no, I have my shortcomings too.
I don't know you but if people are telling you that you're a good person than you very well may be a good person. No one is without sin and we've all done things we regret. Most people who are bad people (if you wanna call it that) really don't see themselves as such. They convince themselves that they're in the right. Self awareness counts for something.
My moral compass operates on the principle: "If everyone else did what I do, would it make the world a better or worse place?" If the answer is worse, I generally don't do it - with a few exceptions. I think this way of thinking also gives some perspective on the true impact of even small things. Throwing a candy wrapper on the ground might not seem like a big deal but if everyone does it we'll drown in trash. Or conversely, if everyone picked a single piece of trash from the ground and put it in the garbage even once a week, the world would be litter-free in no time. Me doing the little thing is doing what can realistically be expected from one person.
Also my job entails locally reversing entropy so you could say I'm taking concrete steps to make the world a bit better every day. And my customers are thankful for it.
I think I put more good into the world than bad. Whether I put in more good than I've consumed, I wonder about that a lot. I've been very fortunate in life.
No. I'm a piece of shit.
A long time ago, I was trying to figure out why I had so much trouble making friends. I talked to the few connections I had and did some online searches. Paraphrasing, I found an analysis similar to the following:
Friendship is like two people holding containers of water. In this metaphor, one person is holding a drinking glass, one is holding a bucket. If the person with the drinking glass offers ever bit of water they have, the person with the bucket feels it's inadequate. If the person with the bucket offers all of their water, the other person feels overwhelmed.
When I read that, I was quite a bit younger and found it fairly profound. I shared it publicly in several places. Every person who saw it - including those I considered to be the metaphorical drinking glass people - declared themselves the bucket person. I did the same of myself so, whether I was right or wrong, I can't blame any of those people.
In conclusion, I try to be a good person and I think I largely succeed, but experience has taught me that I shouldn't trust people's judgment of themselves. I'd like to think I'm an exception, but I'm no more exempt from this than anyone else I've observed, just - predictably - less able to see it in myself.
Yes. I'm not perfect but I try to do positive things and minimize the harm/impact of my life on the world around me.
I don't really think that there are good people. I don't mean it as cynical as it sounds. I KNOW there are bad people. I don't think I'm one of those.
A good person thst can do, bad things
Eh, I try. I think I succeed more often than not, but most bad people think they're good, right? I try to calibrate against the broader society as a whole, but it often seems like society isn't really aligned with goodness anyway. So here I am, trying to suss out the good parts of society and align with that, and trying to suss out the bad parts and follow my own moral compass there. But again, bad people probably generally think they're good, so it's a bit of a conundrum innit?
Minimize harm to others, and try to help as much as you can. Except sometimes harming bad people somewhat is good, and sometimes help is counterproductive.
I'm confident that I am a person. I try to emulate what good is like. Life is hard.
Heck no for several reasons. First of all, I straight up knew something was wrong with me since I was 7, I just didn't know what. Had nightmares about it.
I was selfishly oblivious, never had many friends, and was inconsiderate to others. I mostly spent my time playing videogames. When my parents were struggling, I fussed about small things, took up the toilet all the time, I didn't study much at all.
Because of my fear of people, I didn't believe I could ever get a job, so I almost never tried to get a simple cashier job, and lived off my parents. I would go between trying to learn programing, absurd projects, and just going back to videogames.
I hurt many people, many insults, unjust accusations, made many enemies. I could never stick to rules or promises, I was always a coward, and never able to stick with anything.
Just some of the best people I meet, not wanting to be around me, how little I contribute to communities, and friends, is proof enough that I am a fundamentaly bad person.
I doubt that can ever change, so my goal is just to prevent others from being the same, if at all possible.
I understand that I don't deserve the things that normal people do, and I don't expect them anymore.
🫂 There will be causes for you hurting people. Heck, it is not easy keeping friends with a fear of people I recon. I am not saying that what you did wasn't hurtful, but maybe it made sense. Maybe you didn't know how else to act at the time. But the fact that you reflected on it and know you could have done better, that you try to prevent others from being like you; do you think that's what a bad person would do? No.
You are not a bad person, you are struggeling. If you can, seek therapy or counseling. You deserve the things everybody does. You deserve happiness.
On deserving anything - none of us deserve what we get. There are so many who work so hard and get nothing, so many who do nothing and get so much. I often think I am lucky because I'm not in pain constantly, can see and hear and feel, and that is more than many people get, but I don't deserve it more than they do - that just isn't the way things work.
I do think you can earn things and deserve them (sort of) in that way. Like wages.
No. I'm barely even a functional organism for about 90% of the day.
(But hey, I'm not a politician or a vacuous online personality, so I've got that going for me)
I think my impact on the world is a nut positive. I make it a point to help other people when I can, I've given a bunch of strangers a jumpstart in the parking lot, helped them change a tire, gave a stranded bicyclist a lift home when his pedal broke, clear my schedule to help my friends move, put my shopping cart back the right way and even sometimes straighten out the ones that were carelessly pushed in the general direction of the cart corral by some degenerate, and generally try not to be a bother to others.
As for whether that makes me a good person, I think that's kind of up for debate. At my core, my motivations tend to be pretty selfish. I do those good deeds because I want others to do the same kinds of things for me. If I need help moving, I can count on a small army of friends and acquaintances showing up to help me because I've always made time for them. I want to live in a world where other people treat me the right way, and if I'm not even willing to do that, why should I count on others to do that? Not that it's all a 1:1 transactional thing, I don't expect every good deed I do to directly come back around to benefit me, but I do kind of hope that I'm sort of kicking off a chain of "paying it forward" that maybe inspires even more people to do the same and eventually I get to be the recipient of some random acts of kindness.
So a lot of the time it's not really some sort of selfless altruism that drives me to do the right thing, which is a big part of what people imagine when they think of a "good" person.
I would say that I'm a good enough person.
I do the things that good people do because it feels like the right thing to do, up until the point where I feel like I'm risking overextending myself and then I stop doing that.
I feel bad when I do not do a good thing.
At the same time I know I have done bad things. I have accepted my fault in those situations and apologized to the people that I have hurt in the past and I am still trying to become a better person. So I am good enough to pass for a good person, but I am not an objectively purely good person.
But then again, no one is.
God, no. But I’ve been much worse.
I'm a person capable of being good or bad. I try very hard to be good, I've failed once or twice.
One could argue that goodness without the capacity for badness isn't a virtue. For some it's just a survival tactic. It's the only tool on their belt. A truly good person has the capacity to do harm when the situation requires it but they can keep that side of them at bay when it's not needed. They're kind but can't be walked over. When shit hits the fan, the person who can only do good is of no use to anyone.
I wish I was that balanced
I'm good at being a person.
I am a good puppy
I know i am.
Not by a long shot.
I know I am but I mess up sometimes. I always try to do the right thing. To a fault where my destruction is all self inflicted.
Ehh kinda gave up on good and evil. It's better to say pro/anti social. Im learning to be more social.
But I'd do more "good things" than most people but I'd still say I have a lot more that I can do, and I could be more proactive in general.
It's like you can think your a good person for picking up other people trash, but then realized that people dump carbon dioxide into the air and don't do anything about it.
No, but i try.
I hope yes but I do think this is something others have to label you 1st
On one hand I strive to live a fundamentally “good” life. I have a work ethic, I love and take good care of my cat, I do my level best to be a good dad for my kid, and I try to be a good neighbor. I take care of my physical and mental health. I keep a tidy house and my car in good working order.
On the other hand, well, let’s just say I have done things. Vile things. Criminal things. I have ruined lives and I have destroyed other peoples relationships. I have partaken in acts of debauchery that would make Caligula blush. And here’s the kicker: Not only do I not regret those deeds, but in some cases I revel in them. And I might not be done.
Not really
I feel like I do good things just because they make people like me. Idk.
I think I've met a handful of "good" people in my life. I'm not one of them.
I’ve stopped caring. The worst people in my country decide everything for the rest of us. At this point I don’t care about being good, I just want to exert my will and trod them into the dirt at every opportunity
When I was in my early 20s I would have said yes without a doubt.
Now, a TBI turned me into a manipulative being lusting for satisfaction never to be found without dropping personality continuity from when I genuinely was better. I go to weekly therapy, am heavily medicated, and try not to step on anyone's toes anymore. I have fallen so far there's not many toes around to step on anymore.
I'll help the elderly neighbors out with their potlucks, moving furniture, and bringing in groceries. I'll stand up and defend LGBT rights and groups otherwise disparaged. I'll befriend those who might be misunderstood like myself and give them company when others might shun them.
All of this serves me though, and being a "good person" was not something that took this much active effort to think about before developing these mental/personality disorders from the head injury.
It's genuinely concerning how many people are saying here that they don't consider themselves as good people.
Depends on your understanding of the question. I'd argue "good" isn't something you are, it's something you do.
What matters is that we try to be a little better today than we were yesterday.
I make it easy for someone to argue that I am.
But I'm also difficult and hard to connect with.
I'm definitely not a bad person.
I feel like I'm a good person. My anxiety tells me I'm not and people hate me though so there's that.
I have at times in my life acted in horrible ways and done things which upset others, or were just horribly dickish things to do.
But when I lie in bed at night my thoughts are sometimes about how I regret those things, and don't want to be like that to anyone again.
I hope that counts for something.
I don't know, and it just feels wrong to say myself that I am (feels like this meme).
Leonard Cohen's last song released days before he died was called "You Want It Darker." One of the verses is:
"They're lining up the prisoners and the guards are taking aim, I struggled with some demons, they were middle class and tame, I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim, You want it darker, we kill the flame."
Anyway, that's me, in the middle class. I could be better, but however bad I am, I'm still on the tame level.
Overall yeah, I’m a pretty good person. I care about others, I give my time and money to those less fortunate, I try to be kind, non judgmental and helpful to everyone not just people I like. I’ve struggled a lot in my life mentally and physically, I grew up ugly and disabled and as cliche as it is to say it, it’s made me a better person.
Well I hate a bunch of people I've never even met and the list of people I wish death on seems to grow longer every day, but also I feel like those people deserve it. So maybe, I guess?
Eh, probably. But more importantly I always thought I was weird, but after working at a library for a bit I’ve decided today that I’m merely unusual. On one hand, a sad day but on the other hand I’ve finally got something for my annual goal review.
I'm the worst person I know. And because I'm such a bad person, I don't even care.
Yes. No qualifiers.
We are all doing the best we can with what we have. All the humble "no" respondents are too.
My intentions are to promote human flourishing, and I try to follow my intentions. If I was talking about someone else, I would unequivocally qualify that as being a good person. So by transitive purposes I just have to qualify myself as one.
No
My friends, family and I believe most of my colleagues think so
I feel like I'm an asshole 99% of the time, but that could be my anxiety and disgustingly low self worth talking. Yes I see a therapist about both and other things.
I believe that I am, but it's more important whether people around me think I'm a good person or not.
No, it's not. The people around Jimmy Savile thought he was a good person too.
It's better to do actually do good and be seen as a bad person than the other way around.
Not really. Most of the things that I do are very neutral, and there are a few things that I do that are pretty awful, although of limited scope in harms. I'm mostly nice to people, I try to help where I can, but these aren't really exemplary things, these are just part of living in a society.
I guess it ultimately depends on how you define good
I think I'm a kind and virtuous person but, on the other hand, I'm ashamed that I'm not doing more to help people
Yes, I try really hard to do what's right and I think deeply about that that means. However I do have some negative emotions that can lead me astray in the moment at times. But not so much as to outweigh the good things I've done.
Sometimes I am, but I've got blind spots like everyone else.
No. Not gonna pretend to be. I can be an asshole at times.
I generally try to do more good than bad, and I try not to hurt anyone. But good people probably don't hope that the US president and most of the billionaires stop breathing...
I don't like hurting other people.
Nowadays that qualifies as good.
The bar is so low I don't think I have trouble passing as one of the good ones.
This song sums up my thoughts on the topic.
What qualifies as good? Mother Theresa was seen as "good". May she rest in piss.
"Good" and "bad" are subjective terms. I accept myself for who I am regardless of anyone else's opinions. I'm happy with who I am and my opinion is the only one I need to be worried about.
I'm fortunate enough that it's not hard to be good. I've rarely, if ever, been forced into situations where I have to cause any kind of hardship to anyone to get my needs met. I try to leverage the privilege I've been afforded to act in ways that are more globally conscientious (i.e., I have the time and money to choose ethical alternatives to Amazon, live in a city with public transit, can afford non-meat alternatives and still have a nutritionally complete diet, etc.)
I try to be socially conscientious. I try to limit the problems I cause to others. I take care of people where I can and say hello to my neighbors. I give to charity and sponsor artists. I've broken up a street fight and walked a stranger through a scary part of town because she asked me to.
But if I had to make the really hard choice I'm not sure if I could. "I'm not a coward I've just never been tested. I'd like to think if I was I would pass."
Sometimes I am not a good person. Then I revise my definition of “good” until we’re good to go again.
I stopped trying to be a good person, instead I’m trying to be a person I can be proud of. Whether the action prioritizes myself or the others does not matter if it makes me glad. A huge part of goodness is established on prioritizing other living beings which,I believe, forgets the most important one, the self.
Mostly, if self-loathing behaviour is any indication.
I do think I am, but I never congratulate myself for it. My conscience punishes me if I don't try my best
Better as I get older at least. Other people seem to think I am a good person but I guess we all have impossible standards for ourselves. By Dorothy Parker standards no. "If you have two coats you stole one from the poor." I don't have literally two coats but a dozen sweaters, which are short season items here.
To the extent you can be good and live within the system, yes.
If standing before God and he asks if I did everything I possibly could for those who needed it most, no, I have not, nor have I always been a friend to myself.
I very much doubt that.
I try to be. I live a deviant lifestyle that I get judged for pretty hard IRL but I do my best to be good in spite of it.
No, but I don't think that's a moral failing. More of a skill issue. Or maybe motivation.
At one point in my life. Good people make good decisions every day to stay good. We don’t have the luxury of goodness in America anymore. Not going to pretend like this horrible society isn’t turning me into a fucking monster just like everyone else.
No but thats ok
I'm somewhere between Lawful Evil and Chaotic Neutral, with an occasional moment of Neutral Good.
Probably not.
I don't ascribe to those particular metrics.
That entirely depends on your perspective. I do what I think does good, when I'm able to.
So does everyone else.
As good as any I have met. If Im not then all you all are screwed.
I don't really think about it much. I'd say no, but I'm not a bad person either. I am willing to sacrifice my own interests for people I care about, but not for strangers. I'm kind to people, but I am not nice. I will encourage people to reconsider harmful behaviors, but enable them if they decide not to change. I have ghosted dozens of people for sometimes not very good reasons. I aspire to leave the world better than I've found it, but have spent my career making it worse.
no, and frankly I never want to be.
people who think they are "good people" stop striving to be better.
I give to my community when they ask. I help those who need help. I try my best to make sure everyone around me is safe.
Not looking for clout. Not looking for praise. Just doing the things that need to be done because they need to be done.
That doesn't make me a good person because I'm just a person.
Trying to be good, but failing sometimes. Trying to do better.
Need to be more accountable for failings and judge myself by actions instead of intentions.
All people think they are good humans. Even Hitler thought he was doing the best for his people. Good intentions don't make net positive people though.
~
No such thing. We are all just people on a spectrum somewhere between good and evil. No such thing as pure good, and no such thing as pure evil.
Even Hitler loved dogs.
That being said, however, I can't think of a single positive thing about Trump
No, though I try to do the "right" thing as often as I can.
I believe I am. I was dumb enough to make mistakes in my life like joining the US army. That's just one example but I've spent my later years encouraging people to make better choices than I have. I try to help people in their thought process over their "instincts". Even if I didn't do straight up evil in my life, I certainly observed it. I have spent my later life trying to keep people from making mistakes that will haunt them forever.
I'm certainly not zen by any means, I'm not perfect. But my hope is that people don't have the weight on their shoulders that I do. And its not just about saying no to joining the military. It's about having compassion for others. Actively finding compassion through understanding. I have turmoil over the regrets I have in life and I hope to lead people to avoid that by teaching them using the lessons I've learned in life. So yeah, I've done bad things, making me not a great person, but I use that experience to help others find a better path. I don't know if I can cleanse my "soul" or whatever. But my hope is that I can keep others from tarnishing theirs.
I still consider myself a good person because I've never done anything with evil intentions, and even when I was put into situations where I've been confronted with options to do so, I haven't done them. And when I've been put into situations where I had no option, I did what I could to avoid them. And now I encourage others to avoid them at all costs so they don't have that weighing on them. I feel I've done more good than harm by advocating thought and introspection over going with the flow than by ignoring the voice.
The people that look up to me for serving, I tell them it's not a good thing. I tell them there's no heroism in it. You don't go to war and come out as iron man or thor. You come out dysfunctional at best. And I think I've made people understand the true cost of doing harm to others, even in self defense, that it isn't free of charge on your consciousness.
I feel like I'm a good dad. I'm on my own. His mom took off without warning and ruined her relationship with him. I have been his only safety for a decade. She's around, but doesn't give a shit about anything that matters to him.
Everything else, I try to be a decent person. I don't take what isn't mine and try to be whatever my mouth says. I don't really think there is much more to being "good".
No. I'm a cunt. I'm the type to tell you to go off and rot even I'm wrong.
But. I know this. So I work real hard to be a better person and hear others.
I try to be. I can’t say I always succeed, but I try.
I was a better person when I was a kid.
Meh, according to who? Good and evil are subjective. God's are subjective. Morals are flexible. I am fucking good as fuck compared to many. I am also selfish and hateful compared to many. Also, this question is simplistic and childish.
yeah but others won't recognize that
I know with some of my strong beliefs ( not counting people who willingly use genAI when not required of them as people ) that I am by no means a good perspn by a few standards.
The concept of "good" is subjective tbh. So no. I dont see myself as a "good" person, i'm just a person. We all struggle, we all fall short, not becaue we are "bad", but because we are freaking humans.