Scenic Vistas from Teenager Perspectives
Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights. ~Georg Hegel
The other day, I had a conversation with an old friend from college. It was more of a spirited debate, actually, about the nature of good and evil, right and wrong etc. My world view, will, I'm quite sure, be of no surprise to you--I believe "good" is a matter of perspective and convenience, and that "right" is determined by whoever has "the bigger gun" so to speak. (This is not a political world-view--meaning, regardless of the politics of the times, I always think this way).
I don't know if I am right about this, but it seems to me that the good people of the world outweigh the bad. My perspective on this rarely shifts, and is also reinforced when tragedies such as the one in Newtown, Connecticut, or Ferguson, MO, or San Bernardino, CA, or Berlin Germany, Nice, France (I could go on but why depress us all further) occur. I believe it is an objectively unfair universe we inhabit, although I have a hunch it has a way of righting its ownself from time to time.
So the debate between my friend and I ensued.
My friend's world view was quite a bit different than mine--much more idealistic and much more indicative of his personality. In his eyes, my friend (his name is Ahmed) is certain that good always conquers evil, the meek shall inherit the Earth, all you need is love etc etc etc. He goes on to posit that good things come to good people and eventually, all the pieces will fall into place if you live a good life. Seriously, that's really what he believes. He's a really sweet guy--it boggles me.
(I keep him around, this college buddy, because he gives me hope, and when I am feeling way too misanthropic and cynical for my own good, he gives me balance. All of the other times I mock him shamelessly for his "dreamy" and (what I consider to be) unrealistic view of the world).
So, my question(s) for you this week is--where in our spectrum does your world view fall?
Do you think people are mostly bad or mostly good?
What determines that?
Do you think that the person who does the right thing always wins?
If so, what's the prize? Are there clear-cut answers about what's right and what's wrong? How is it all measured? Let's get a little Lang-y and tell a story (real or metaphorical--no matter) to illustrate/exemplify your points. Try to think of an example about which you feel passionately. It is usually passion that dictates what your true beliefs are. However, when we use passion to describe or talk about them, we run the risk of sounding like we can't be taken seriously. So, try to temper your passion (your pathos) with your logic (your logos).
The other day, I had a conversation with an old friend from college. It was more of a spirited debate, actually, about the nature of good and evil, right and wrong etc. My world view, will, I'm quite sure, be of no surprise to you--I believe "good" is a matter of perspective and convenience, and that "right" is determined by whoever has "the bigger gun" so to speak. (This is not a political world-view--meaning, regardless of the politics of the times, I always think this way).
I don't know if I am right about this, but it seems to me that the good people of the world outweigh the bad. My perspective on this rarely shifts, and is also reinforced when tragedies such as the one in Newtown, Connecticut, or Ferguson, MO, or San Bernardino, CA, or Berlin Germany, Nice, France (I could go on but why depress us all further) occur. I believe it is an objectively unfair universe we inhabit, although I have a hunch it has a way of righting its ownself from time to time.
So the debate between my friend and I ensued.
My friend's world view was quite a bit different than mine--much more idealistic and much more indicative of his personality. In his eyes, my friend (his name is Ahmed) is certain that good always conquers evil, the meek shall inherit the Earth, all you need is love etc etc etc. He goes on to posit that good things come to good people and eventually, all the pieces will fall into place if you live a good life. Seriously, that's really what he believes. He's a really sweet guy--it boggles me.
(I keep him around, this college buddy, because he gives me hope, and when I am feeling way too misanthropic and cynical for my own good, he gives me balance. All of the other times I mock him shamelessly for his "dreamy" and (what I consider to be) unrealistic view of the world).
So, my question(s) for you this week is--where in our spectrum does your world view fall?
Do you think people are mostly bad or mostly good?
What determines that?
Do you think that the person who does the right thing always wins?
If so, what's the prize? Are there clear-cut answers about what's right and what's wrong? How is it all measured? Let's get a little Lang-y and tell a story (real or metaphorical--no matter) to illustrate/exemplify your points. Try to think of an example about which you feel passionately. It is usually passion that dictates what your true beliefs are. However, when we use passion to describe or talk about them, we run the risk of sounding like we can't be taken seriously. So, try to temper your passion (your pathos) with your logic (your logos).
I would say I’m more or less an optimist. I think that good people do bad things and it’s not necessarily the person’s fault for the way they think, some people are raised that way, but they are responsible for their actions meaning if they intentionally do something they know is wrong that would be a bad decision. I don’t think there’s a specific determination because I think everyone tries to do good their perspective might just be the complete opposite of someone else. I don’t believe the person who makes the right choices always wins tangibly but I feel like the satisfaction of doing the right thing should be enough. I guess that would be the prize but my mom used to say “no good deed goes unpunished” so sometimes doing the right thing gives you more trouble so personally I’d keep doing the right thing, however I understand why or choose to do nothing or the wrong thing because it will keep them safe or in a comfortable position. There aren’t clear cut answers and it’s measured by personal morals. Most people have similar values, not everyone is understanding or optimistic, but the basis of values is similar. For example, if a parent abuses a child or let’s their partner abuse a child they may justify it as “they misbehaved this is the repercussion” for whatever information they know, it’s right. In that parents mind it’s perfectly fine or it’s okay. However, maybe it escalated without ones knowledge and the child is really being damaged beyond just physical damage, it’s mental now. That child is going to carry damage with them for their life and maybe blame that parent for letting that occur and being with that person, but the parent never saw anything first hand and the child never was honest with the parent about. Abusing a child is wrong, reprimanding a child is perfectly normal. The abuser would be wrong, granted they knew better than to exert too much force. If they didn’t know better although most people say that’s absolutely wrong I don’t think they would be because they weren’t taught differently or reprimanded for their actions. It’s hard to hold someone accountable for a wrong that they didn’t know was wrong. The unknowing partner or parent wouldn’t have any knowledge and shouldn’t be blamed for the incident and they would be “morally right” because they didn’t know of foul play. The child would grow up and hopefully learn to understand this. This is how I’ve made it through life because if I didn’t try to understand different points of view, I would blame a lot of people for things that they didn’t have any true part in. I would probably be much angrier and moodier. If someone isn’t taught any better how would they know that they’re wrong. If someone is never made aware of the situation, then how could they help? They can’t. So by I believe that to understand right and wrong you need to assess whether or not the person knows better. If they don’t educate them. If they do not change their viewpoint it’s not necessarily their fault, but at least they are aware that not everyone believes what they do and hopefully that will help the next time they make the decision to do it.
ReplyDeleteOur world today mainly highlights the evil things than the good. When you watch the news all you hear about is robberies, murders, kidnappings, etc. But what about the good things in the world? I believe there are more good people in the world, but they don’t get appreciated. On rare occasions we hear about people donating to charities or giving to the homeless. Instead we hear about people getting busted for selling drugs and doing them. People that are troubled and bad are most likely the ones that had a bad childhood. If the world was made of good people there wouldn't be bad parents who form bad children that later grow to be bad human beings.
ReplyDeletePeople that do the right thing usually run into obstacles at first, but end up on the positive side of life. When you win by doing the right thing the prize can be in side of you. You will have this feeling that brings joy to you knowing you made other people happy or the situation right. Now sometimes you will hurt at first because you didn’t want it to happen, but deep down you know it’s right. That is sometimes hard for people to figure out. For example I usually do a tournament with my field hockey team and our coach could never make it, so it’s up to us to sub out players. I believe that everyone should have a fair playing time, so if I see someone that barely got in I would switch out with them because they didn’t pay $20 for nothing. Even though it’s not that big of a situation I still feel good inside knowing that I’m letting everyone get a fair game and nobody is being left out.
In our spectrum, my worldview is very similar to your college buddy Ahmed, because of past experiences of me doing and seeing good things being done and being received either to me or someone I know. Like just a couple of weeks ago one of my friends paid for dinner at that grilled cheese place on Friday and on Wednesday that next week he got a pair of apple headphones for free. So of course right there doing good does come back no matter how long it takes. And he is right about good conquering evil, because wherever there is evil there is good and it could go the same way vice versa but good will always conquer evil.
ReplyDeletePersonal for me I do think most people are good in the world, and what determines that is the decisions that they make whether by helping others, giving advice, or doing the right thing etc… Just walk around New York and notice when something goes wrong and how many good samaritans come out to help. Or like the car accident vehicles where other cars that are coming behind them pull over to see if the people involved in the accident are okay and safe. It’s the little things like that, that make the world good.
I wish that was the case but no the person that always does the right thing loses sometimes the bad guys get the dub. Which is why some people balance out doing good things and bad which isn’t exactly the right thing to do but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. Gotta live a little.
The way I view the world is in a way that I'm sure no one else does. My thoughts are all over the place. For starters, I try to see the light in every corner and that can be a blessing and a curse. I see the world as a place where individually; we're intelligent but together we are a mess. I've just always thought this way. Mainly because one single person (when alone) thinks for him/herself whereas in a group, you are sort of entitled to go along with the ideas and thoughts of the group.. if that makes sense. I also believe that every person is good until proven guilty and even then they probably still have some good in them. The biggest factor to determine weather or not someone is "good or bad" is to put yourself in their shoes and think about the situation from a whole different prespective. Life is filled with new doors and paths leading to different choices etc. I don't think that the person who does the right thing is automatically a winner or is automatically in for some sort of blessing or anything because everyone is different and you never know if your opinion of 'bad' is someone else's 'good'. This is a prime example of something that toys with my mind each day not allowing me to fully understand... I don't understand why people judge others for the way they view things or for the way they think. For example, everyone has different fingerprints and that's fine, but once someone starts to think even a little bit out of the box; they get judged. I feel like as a society, we created limits for our thinking and for our creativity. We measure our happiness and well-being based off of others and how they measure theirs and before know it, we have one big "basic" way of thinking.
ReplyDeleteSeeing things like mass shootings, serial killings, sexual assault, racism, etc can cause many people to lean towards pessimistic views. I wouldn’t say I’m a pessimist, I definitely think good people out number the demons. I also believe that if you’re surrounded by good people/ positivity, that pushes you to be an overall good person, same for the other side, if you surround yourself with bad people/ negativity, you’ve chosen your fate. As far as “the good guys win the race” I don’t see a correlation normally. Half the time we applaud karma for doing her job and the other half of the time, we try to figure out where she was when those we see as unfit win in life.
ReplyDeleteAt times I question humanity, especially when it comes to our lovely justice system. Of course there are the ridiculous injustices such as wrongful imprisonment and racial profiling, but one case in particular still has me aggravated to this day. That is the case of Brock Turner. In January of 2015, a student athlete by the name of Brock Turner had sexual relations with an unconscious, intoxicated woman behind a dumpster at a Stanford party. That woman had no idea what had even happened to her until a bit later when she woke up in the hallway of a hospital examining the bandages around her hands and elbows, picking out the pine needles from her hair, and discovering her underwear was no wear to be found. She would have never known what had happened if it wasn’t for an officer telling her the situation. The next day she had to get tested for HIV. Turner was a promising swimmer at Stanford University so maybe that’s why the typical 10-15 year sentence was diminished to a meer 3 month jail visit. Two years later, Turner has asked for this charge to be recalled and wants a retrial, claiming this has ruined his chances of ever competing again. In June, he will get his wishes. This is a prime example of the villain writing his own ending.
While there are people like Brock Turner, like Brock Turner’s father (the man who said “That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life”), and the judge himself, there were millions of people absolutely disgusted by these events and reacted in the same way I had. This example also proves my point of having negative people around you affects your personality. If Brock Turner’s father was able to say that in court, what do you think he said behind the scenes while his son was in the room?
Surround yourself with positive vibes.
The world is no shiny place at all by any standards. Its filled with many people who will take the quickest opportunity to ruin you if it means bettering themself in anyway. I believe that 75% of the time people have good intentions and 25% people don’t, I also believe that it’s a 40% chance people will act on those good intentions. The thing is though is that despite the many good intentions someone may have they may only want act on the bad ones because people are evil, and when people are evil to other people they make those people evil and it carries on. Sometimes I wonder if doing the right thing is worth it, because good things don’t always come to people who do the right things, it only happens sometimes, it’s just luck. The only thing that can guarantee that doing will the right thing will lead to good fortune is God, and that’s in heaven. I guess you can say i’ve always been a pessimist, because life has never been that good to me. I believe there is evil that surrounds almost everyone hearts, around a small compressed ball of humanity, love, and compassion. Almost everyone wants to do the right thing, but that evil is too strong. That evil is responsible for the reason people betray you without thinking, its responsible for why the NRA promotes guns 24/7 and twist the wording of the constitution to support their arguments, yet every time a school shooting happens they turn their heads, and every gun freedom promoting conservative only defense is that it says it in a document they don’t even know the first sentence to. That same evil that judges people by the color of their skin, and is rooted so deeply in people mines that they don’t even know what's wrong with them. What's wrong and right is not easily definable, for it is a matter of perception of the circumstances at hand. I see no problem in murdering a man who is trying to rape my mother at the moment, I see no problem in abortion though, but i also don’t think the idea of knowingly engaging in behaviours that can lead to unplanned pregnancies is appropriate in any way, but that’s just my opinion, that’s my perception of what's right and wrong. The only true judge of what's right and wrong is again God. In my extremism view those not intellectually adept should be eliminated, so that those with the capacity to think bigger and deeper about a multitude of things can begin the discussion on what's right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteI️ would categorize myself as pessimist so with that being said I️ do believe that there is bad in this world. This is a complex question to answer because as much as I️ would like to believe that everyone is a good person and not out for their own personal gain though it’s our human nature to want to be the best in with that comes people who will trample other people to get what they need. So realistically I️ believe that ten percent of our population is good, kindhearted people. I️ determined this do to that fact that in my everyday life I️ come by rude people all that time and I️ completely understand stressful situations people are placed in but the amount of times people hold the door, say thank you, give you a compliment is just baffling to me I️ don’t know if it’s our society and its standards but people especially girls need to start being nice and lifting up one another. Here is an example your out Black Friday shopping trying to score a big smart tv and the lady in front of you who is an elder walks a little slower would you trample her to get to the tv or would you let her walk her pace. I️ have a feeling most people would take the opportunity and trample her which in my mind is completely disgusting. So yes there are some good people but in my mind there are way more not necessarily bad people but people who are selfish and try to hurt and manipulate others.
ReplyDeleteIn my everyday life I see people not necessarily for who they are, but who they could be. I tend to think the absolute best of people, pondering reasons why they may have made a shitty decision; constantly making excuses for someone’s poor judgment. I don’t want to believe that I live in a world where people chose to hurt others, where people chose evil. So, I tell myself that there must always be an explanation as to why they are the way they are. People are born innocent, and as life goes by and they mold into who they are, they learn to react to things a certain way as coping mechanism. Like a boy for example, who maybe at one point was an amazing boyfriend, but after going through a heartbreak he’ll never be the same. I’m pretty sure that’s how fuckboys are born. I think people tend to hurt other people because they’re protecting themselves.
ReplyDeleteI can only hope karma is a real thing because that’s all I have to hold onto some days. People who do good do not always get what they deserve because life sucks. For example you could bend over backwards for someone and care about them unconditionally but that does not mean they are going to care about you. An athlete can work hard day in and day out, yet due to a single injury their career could come to an utter stop. Innocent people die everyday, little kids who never even got to have their first kiss, or shot of vodka. People who’ve worked so hard for something yet seem to be stuck in someone else’s shadow. When you chose to be a good person you just have to learn not to expect something in return, you have to do it for yourself.
I think right and wrong is something that you have to decide on your own. I think right and wrong is different for everyone. To me, doing something right means I’m making someone else happy, and when I do that I make myself happy. I get hurt all the time because I let people walk all over me, yet I refuse to become a coldhearted person because I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
I usually try to see the good in people, even when they do horrible things and many times people are remembered for one horrible thing they did with all the good completely discarded. I hate that that’s a thing because it’s so unfair to that person and to everyone else who never got a chance to know the good in them. I think that overall, there is more bad in the world than good. I believe this although I try to make excuses for it. There are way too many bad thing that happen in this world (like the ones you listed) for good to overpower the bad. The person truly in the right does not always come out on top, not nearly. There are so many situations where the bad guy wins, which just further proves my point that the bad outweighs the good. No, good and bad are almost never clean cut answers which can be extremely confusing. If you know me at all you know I love Glee. I love it with all of my heart but as of January 30th, two of its cast members have died. First was Cory Monteith in July of 2013 and now Mark Salling. Cory died from a drug overdose which is how a lot of people know him, before I watched the show I just knew him as that guy who overdosed and had no idea of the impact he left on people everywhere. His life was corrupted by drugs and had been since he was 12 and honestly it was bound to happen (and I in no way mean he deserved it, it was just very likely with the way his life went). So many people have no idea who he really was just how he died. Now, Mark. Going through the show, I formed a bond to not only these characters but the actors as well. In December 2015, he was charged with possession of child pornography (it was kinda a lot) when I found that out I was shocked but I believed because people are messed up and I’m used to hearing crazy stuff like that. After that I stopped thinking about him until a good friend of mine (also obsessed with Glee) sent me a screenshot of someone telling her he died. My stomach was instantly in knots and I almost cried in the middle of class. Not until I found out he hung himself in a little league baseball field did I begin feeling sick. People look at me differently because I felt something for this “monster” but that’s not who he was to me. I never really followed him like other actors on the show but he still meant something to me, I still cares about him and I think I have that right. Mark was also abused growing up, which obviously played a big role in his instability. But my point is, no matter how much good he did with the show, with fans, with other films and shows, he will forever be known as a monster.
ReplyDeleteMy world view seems to be a mix between you and Ahmed. I know the world is a shitty place, and for some reason shitty people run the world and make it very, very shitty. I also know there are amazing people in the world, and we all know they are magnificent and deserve the perfect world they envision but they won’t get it. It would take billions of people like that with the courage to show they are there to even make the smallest change in our shitty world. I think people are mostly good, but for some reason the bad overpowers the good. In other words, the smaller amounts of bad we have get the spotlight over all the good people have in them. But who am I to decide what’s right or wrong? The ideas of right and wrong are always circumstantial anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe person who does the “right” thing absolutely does not always win. A player can do everything clean. They don’t take any enhancing supplements, they train every day, they eat right, they work hard, they’re a good teammate and person… they can do all of this and more and still lose the game, or not get drafted, or miss out on the big prize. What would the prize be? In sports it could be the gold medal, the state championship, first-team or all state awards. But what’s the prize of life? Is it being successful or being right? I guess it just all depends on your morals and what you value. If you can be happy with yourself doing the right thing even if it means you don’t necessarily get what you want, then you can “win” in life.
Overall I think I am an optimist about people. I used to be very pessimistic about people and their intentions. But if you go your whole life thinking that people are bad, you will hurt the good ones and you will live in regret. Which I think is worse than being done dirty by someone you thought was good. I think what determines a good and bad person is their actions. No matter what mindset you have or emotional situation you are in you are responsible for your actions. It is your choice if those actions will help or hurt yourself and other people. But the person who does the right thing does not always win. I don’t believe in things like good people magically always win in the end. Shit happens. You don’t always get what you want. For example, an athlete can work their ass off and believe that they can get better and sometimes they just don’t get any better. Or they get injured. Life doesn’t suck. Life isn’t not fair. Life is just life. And we’re all just moving through. The actions you make decide can decide the future but sometimes things just are not going to work out for you. It is hard to accept but it is important to keep trying because one day you can achieve whatever you are trying to get.
ReplyDeleteI don't exactly know which may outweigh the other, or if they're both equals or not. And it's a bit difficult to really establish who or what is good and who or what is evil; it's all about points of view. We aren't all equal, some are born better looking, in a rich family, with great parents, and with talent and meaning. While others are born unappealing, in a broken family, with no meaning to their life. I can and never will be sure how much evil or good there is, although right now evil is pretty popular. And if I'm going to be absolutely honest, evil isn't just limited to murder or destruction of large populations. It's in things we can't always see. Words truly do cut deeper than a knife ever could. You can always pull the knife out of your chest, but words will forever be struck into your soul and spirit. Bullies, parents. . . any seemingly innocent play on words or jokes can be the worst thing to somebody. And when that somebody gets upset about it, they are told that they're being ridiculous, that it was just a joke, that they take it "too seriously". I wish that some people would just realize that if they are given too much pain, it can turn a soft heart into one of stone and soon feel nothing. The people that you trust so quickly, are the ones who will break you without a second thought. Those are the kind of people who are truly evil. What I want to believe is that it's okay to live, even if there's no reason to. I got a bit off topic here, sorry. It's mostly because I can't answer that question of yours.
ReplyDeleteI think most people in the world are bad and I determined by thinking about everything that has just gone wrong in this world, things that just make everything negative. I personally am the one in 10 people that are actually good. I think the best of people and I just have a huge heart so I think that everyone else is the same way when in reality most of the people you meet are negative Nancy’s. Less people do the right thing and more people the wrong thing most the time it’s what benefits the person doing the action. The person that does the right thing doesn’t always win because unfortunately the world is unfair that people do the wrong thing a majority of the time end up making out better than the people who do the right thing. I have a few personal experiences that relate to this blog question so I’m going to list them. this one happened to my older sister not me but it still is kind of frustrating so when my sister was in high school she found $100 in the girls bathroom. It was around prom season so she was like oh wow this is probably someone’s prom ticket money and so she brought it to the main office and gave it to them. Then later one of her friends came to lunch and was like “someone in the main office asked me if I lost my prom ticket money so I said yes and they gave me $100.” in that instance my sister did the right thing and her friend got rewarded which for her must have really sucks because she could have kept that money and used it to buy herself a prom ticket. Another thing would be in softball sometimes there are close calls when it comes to a pitch hitting the batter. I am always honest about that but some girls however are not. Many of the times I end up getting the shitty end of the stick even when I always tell the truth! The world is just screwed up and you never really get what you bargain for. I do believe that there is however good karma. In a sense that you can do a good deed and later be repaid for that good doing. I do still stand by my view of the world being evil in more ways than one but I think it all just depends on how you view things. I know all of the school shootings, terrorist attacks, and more have hindered the “good world” view for me. I am simply just a good person living in a bad world.
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