This is an unpopular opinion because many people think people are a mix of both. I hear people say, “people are both good and bad, there is no black and white clear line between good and bad people”
But I disagree. Usually when I meet people who are bad, their entire personality and behaviors align with being a bad person – they are selfish, criminal, hateful, greedy, angry, violent, anti-social, and other negative traits.
On the other hand, people who are good are generally caring, patient, kind, giving, open, empathetic and other positive traits.
Since people align strongly with either good or bad personalities, a clear line can be drawn between the two types of people.
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Serious question, how old are you?
Before you say “Why does it matter?, it does.
I’ve met a fair number of people in my life. Few were bad.
Hm…I actually feel like I agree with you. It’s not that bad people don’t do good things and good people don’t do bad things, it’s their attitudes about the things they do and their overall outlook on life and personal values.
“Criminal” what does this mean there’s plenty of things that are illegal that are not immoral ? Doing drugs gets you in trouble but plenty of people do drugs and are in fact just regular decent people
In veeeeeeeeeeery few cases is this true.
Just think of the most vile person you ever experienced in your life. I can guarantee you there’s other people in their life that love them and who this person treats with all the love in the world.
And, you also have to take into account that your perspective also can influence what you view as good or bad in a person. An action you may view as bad can be easily be viewed as good from a different perspective and vice versa
So only you have this ability to tell good people from bad people?
Do you not find that a bit unlikely and that you are overestimating your abilities?
According to your stance, politicians are the most genuine and kind hearted people in the world.
Lincoln famously didn’t believe in racial equality. Good or bad?
FDR put Japanese Americans in internment camps. Good or bad?
No. We are all bad. Even if we do some good.
People pretend to be bad but when u meet that person that truly is u get uncomfortable… Being bad is more than being rebellious. It is a way of life. In fact they say ppl with psychopathy aka a personality disorder literally enjoy doing the wrong thing.
You draw a line between people YOU perceive and good and people YOU perceive as bad. You do not hold all (if much) of the information on the people you’re judging. You must be young.
Nah. Genuinely good people comprise a very, very small percentage of the population. Fortunately, so do truly bad people.
The rest of us? We’re all on the spectrum of human dickheadedness, ranging from mostly-decent-person-with-just-a-touch-of-selfishness/arrogance/whatever-other-human-flaw-you-can-imagine to this-guy’s-one-decent-character-trait-is-his-only-redeeming-feature. The vast bulk of us exist on this spectrum, sometimes good, sometimes bad, often both within the same interaction.
Yeah well tell that to the women that Ted Bundy killed. By all accounts he was charming and kind until he killed them.
The problem is that humans are often contradictory. Bad people sometimes do good things and good people sometimes act selfish or malicious. It’s how a violent gangster can still be a loving father or a doctor can spend much of his time doing pro bono work for the poor and still cheat on his wife. It’s makes no sense and their moral lines and skew but it happens.
Sometimes it’s easy to draw a line, but people arne’t simple like that. Some things they do are bad, but how bad?
Is someone who goes out their way to do charitable work and donates their funds to charity but is a bit a dick to people and puts them down?
There’s many things about us and some of those things may lie on either side of the line. Rather than drawing a line in the sand, Ying and Yang are more fitting. Easy to point at a murderer and pedophile and just say WOW SO EVIL but most of us are a lot more mundane doing much less noticable things. You point at one of those things and yeah they seem good, working hard for their family. Oh, but he gets a bit angry with his friend during heated debates so he’s bad. Aw but he visit his aging grandparent often to check she’s OK so he’s really nice, ah ok but he’s a bit of a shit boss so maybe not so nice…it can bounce abount and it’s not always clear.
i mean, “gray people” exist, and most bad people aren’t completely bad like most good people aren’t completely good, but yeah… the point is that some people are egoist to the core, most of the times this doesn’t show and they play by the rules, but they start every decision and action just from what’s convenient to em, reshaping the final decision to not look evil, but if you’re not naive you’ll notice this… like the people that are good to the core are more free and although they will not agree to be martyrs or saints they still give a shit
that’s your perception of the people you meet though. obviously we can all agree some people are bad such as serial killers or rapists. but there are also people who have done bad things but still have a good heart and good intentions in general. it’s all about perception, and what you actually know of the people is often just surface level or isn’t the whole picture of them. it’s really rare to actually know everything about anyone, or to get to know them to their core. people you meet in passing, or even people you’ve known for years, you may think they are “good” or “bad” people, but you still only know the slivers of them that they let you see. humans are complex. i do think people can be both. i also think some people are horrible human beings and that some people are too good for this world. but in most cases, only the person knows deep down inside what they are and some can fluctuate.
As a bad person, I agree
Please explain what that line is. I have a dad that is such a mixed bag. 40 years in and I still can’t decide. He loves his family and worked 16 hour days all his life to provide for us. He always gave money to homeless when others told him they would just buy drugs. He took us on so many adventures and my childhood is such a messy wonderful awful time.. He’ll drop everything to help anyone at any time. But some of his views are so far right wing and it hurts even more as his daughter to know that he doesn’t think women should have bodily autonomy. BUT… he is glued to his ideology and he truly believes he’s doing what is right. He was an alcoholic for most of my childhood and abusive at times… mostly emotionally and mentally. But he got sober when I was 23 and spent years trying to make himself a better man. He goes to meetings every day. Helps alcoholics trying to get sober. Admits how awful he was when we were kids. He’s funny and innovative. I’ve never met anyone who forgives people more wholly. He knows he can be narcissistic. His answer to this is to keep helping others . But he definitely still embarrasses people. He’s socially unaware. But his dad gave him zero attention so it comes from a place of deep insecurity. Please tell me if he’s bad or good. His bad is really bad and his good is really good. I love my dad. Does that make me bad?
Counterpoint: You’re more likely assume the best or worst of people depending on whether you’ve already decided they’re “good” or “bad”. You see your friend being rude to someone, they probably have a good reason. You see an asshole giving money to charity, probably just trying to look good and manipulate people. Over time this will just reinforce itself and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Also, you probably would avoid people you don’t like, giving you less opportunities to see their potential good traits
Upvoted for being unpopular though
That line is people who replace empty toilet paper rolls and those that don’t.
While you’ve boldly delivered an unpopular opinion, let’s not forget why it’s unpopular. Good people occasionally do bad things. Jesus himself tried to get that across with the whole “cast the first stone” bit, didn’t you hear about that story. And bad people? Even they hold the door sometimes.
Your worldview could stem from ignorance or naivete. I’ll call it naivete, because today I’m wearing my benevolent hat.
There are tons of people in this world who are good people but have done bad things, and vice versa. This in itself proves you wrong.
You can still be a good person if you’ve done bad things, but then it isn’t as black and white anymore.
I mean look at celebrities who are beloved but have done shit in their past, some have changed for better but others just moved past it like it never happened. Regardless, they are still loved or hated
Does stealing make you a good or bad person? What about stealing food to feed your kids?
Does giving money to homeless people make you good? What if you do that and go home and beat your wife? Obviously giving to the needy is good but domestic violence is bad. Maybe you argue giving money away isn’t enough to overcome beating your wife, but what about saving 1,000 lives? They obviously have nothing to do with each other and are good or bad on their own merits and neither action fully describes the single person who did them.
There isnt such thing as “bad” or “good”, those are completely made up concepts by society that constantly change through time and vary from person to person.
For you, some traits that you consider to be bad, are good to someone else, it’s completely subjective.
Most people would say that greediness is a negative treat, but then there will be someone that will disagree with it and say how it’s a good trait because only greedy people get what they want for example, you can apply this to any “bad” or a “good” thing.