do you think most people are bad?

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looks like a good forum to start arguements in ...llolol ....

So... being a vet you work with animals all day? Remind yourself that people are animals. An animal is nether good nor evil, they just exist doing what nature and evolutionary randomness led them to do.

Once I recognized the essentially animalistic nature of humans, I was able to handle them and their generally selfish behavior a lot better. It doesn't appear evil to me, just instinctive and competitive. Now, there's people who make themselves better than this simple neutral behavior, and some people make themselves worse, but if you accept that in reality most people are stuck in the middle, it's easier to both relate to and accept them. At least to me it is.

Don't go!
There are a lot of very bad people haunting the place.

no worries , not big on going out of my way to engage in arguementative stuff

No … but many are misguided and tarnished by what life has thrown at them.

unthinking people can appear downright evil at times , i think .

As bad as some of my experiences have been, I do believe people's perceptions can be coloured by life experiences & they act accordingly.

no idea

Yeah, it's very Jekyll and Hyde. People might be nice to each other, but you get to see a nasty/viscous side of them. In their minds, it may be justified. They may see themselves as good people, but think that you deserve their darkside, while you stand there confused as to why they're being so terrible and targeting you.

Even people you actually get along with who know you and them may seem confused. "So-and-so is so nice. We all agree except you. How are you having these problems with them? It must be YOU!"

Every human being is profoundly selfish in nature.
Even altruists are "simply" satisfying their personal emotional needs.

And caring for someone is one of the most selfish things a person can do, in life.
That is on the positive selfish side.

Then you have Nietzsche's "Will to power" which embraces the darker side of humanity which sees others are objects to exploit.

Charming.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is incorrect in its assessment of humanity.
The entry says: "Mostly harmless."

I have written to the publishers and asked them to amend that misleading entry to:
Humanity, the filth of the universe!
Extremely toxic! Avoid at all costs!

Don't attribute to malice what can be more willingly attributed to ignorance, idleness or BS.

Regardless, there is still plenty of malice to satisfy everyone.

I think most people are ignorant. All people, even. And I think that actions and words born of ignorance can appear malicious. Even people who do intend to be cruel because they enjoy it or something are ignorant of precisely how they will affect people. They might be aware of it on an abstract level, and may even imagine how it would feel for the victim, but they can't know.

Imagine that you could feel the effect you're having on someone with your words or actions, as if it were something you were doing to yourself. If you were inflicting pain, you would stop immediately, no? Just like when you get a really painful burn from something you touch. You don't keep touching it, unless you lack an aversion to suffering.

That would be knowing, but we seem to be unable to do that. We can't truly know the scope and severity of the effects we have, or even what kind of effects, a lot of the time. Even if we were to enquire as to the effect we've had on someone, or be otherwise told by the person, we gain only a rudimentary understanding because language just fails to cut the mustard.

I don't subscribe to any religion but I seem to have come to the conclusion that these words attributed to Christ: "...forgive them, for they know not what they do.", as a mental or emotional response to the people who've hurt me and those I love, is something I can't beat. Because it's true - we really don't know what we do. Not fully. No where near. If we did I think we'd all be behaving a lot differently, and probably quite madly. But the last thing I think most people would be is "bad".