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Personal Morals & Values
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| Yes | 62% | 1131 votes | Total: 1828 votes | |
| No | 38% | 697 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesYes, people are inherently good because they are programmed to react to love, the greatest influential force in their lives. They seek love, desire it, need it and lavish it on others because love connects them to others. When it is missing from their lives the effects can be catastrophic. Babies know no evil. It is the way they are brought up, the way they are valued, the way they are treated and the respect they get which turn those young toddlers from feel-good worthy children to angry, resentful deviants.
People simply react to how they are treated. The way they are valued dictates how they perceive themselves and their world and then they react accordingly. If it is a negative perception, then there will be the behaviour to match. Even the hardest hearted person will melt with kindness and love than with anything else. If they are greeted with criticism or rejection instead, they begin to question their worth, they lose stake in their environment and community and become unfeeling monsters, in some cases, wanting only to hurt and destroy. There is always a connection between a person's experience, especially in childhood, and how he/she comes to see the world they are in. They will either welcome their life and opportunities and make the most of them, or go off the rails to be vengeful or to get attention.
One of the most subtle things which change the nature of people are expectations. Many good people change over time trying to conform to expectations while others who were likely to be deviant have actually improved their lives because of the faith and trust placed in them and high expectations of them. So people are inherently good and, if we expect them to behave in a positive manner, we are likely to get that reaction than if we assume the worst of them, yet expect them to be behave differently. So long as they are loved, appreciated and valued, we will always get the best from them.
Learn more about this author, Elaine Sihera.
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No
The subject of whether people are good or bad has been discussed probably more than any other subject, with indisputable points being brought up by either side. However, the points made by the warring sides remain ever the same. While I remain neutral in most arguments, and indeed, do tend to lean closer to neutral in this as well, I must say that I do not believe that people are good.
However, unlike many, I do not say this because of any predisposed religious belief. I merely base this on a lifetime of observing humanity quietly from the outside. Now I still do not know whether we are born good and society makes us bad, or vice versa. The nature vs. nature debate is unwinnable, and quite honestly makes no difference. As proven, a circle has no beginning and no end, and good and evil is much the same, with both being present at all times.
No, I strongly believe that for whatever reason, people are not good. Humanity is the most brutal race on the face of the planet, constantly finding new, grotesque ways to hurt each other. And I am not just talking about murder or torture, for we as a society seem to delight in hurting each other in small ways, like bullying the fat kid on the playground. If you don't believe me, head to any nearby children's park, and you will undoubtedly notice that children are very cruel to anything different.
Many high school shootings are committed by people who have been hurt badly enough to come unhinged enough to completely give in to the blistering black pit of evil lodged in everybody's heart. And who really can blame them? Humanity as a whole is very macabre; it's like the child playing with its food before they eat it. For that is exactly what we do, maim and hurt each other with a sick delight, killing each other slowly and not giving it another thought.
Mankind is responsible for every war, every serial killer, every mugging or petty crime. Jails are buildings for criminals, yet are tended by people just as evil as they are. Everybody has sinned, and everybody denies the basic fact that they will do so again and again. Somewhere in our secret mind, everybody thinks about hurting others, about revenge or just plain out hurting another for the boost it sadly gives our fragile psyche.
Are people inherently good or bad? Ask yourself, does it really matter? There is no answer to that question, and no answer would stop humanity from continuing on the path of self hate and destruction. People will never stop doing evil things, and the sad but inevitable truth of the matter is that the world could never survive peacefully. After all, the cost of freedom is blood.
Learn more about this author, Destiny Mcmanus.
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Difference of opinion? Debate now.
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