Generally good, I think.

People start making bad decisions when they lose their patience when trying to solve a situation that poses a problem for themselves. That can set them on a course that has them making one bad decision after another. We all know the "bad bosses" and the "bad parents". Their "badness" seems to be just due to the disregard of the well-being of others. That develops over time into more severe forms. Once they don't really care anymore how their actions influences the lives of others around them we start losing our respect for them.

"Sociopaths" and "criminal perverts" are another thing. Like PurpleJedi pointed out, there are often clear behavioral patterns that can be observed all throughout their lives. Some say that it is indeed the sentiment of guilt that is lacking from these individuals.

Vendetta1 said:

Bad. Just fucking evil.

you know why i'm giving you the eye.

People are generally good.....

kewlschool said:

Good, bad doesn't really matter. Show me authentic (as existentialist philosophy) people any day.

Authentic people are hard to find.

Absolutely. Working in the corporate world, it sickens me how fake so many people act just so they can get ahead and get what they want.

[Edited 5/10/11 10:13am]

people are generally pro self

and sometimes its good and sometimes its bad

kitbradley said:

kewlschool said:

Good, bad doesn't really matter. Show me authentic (as existentialist philosophy) people any day.

Authentic people are hard to find.

Absolutely. Working in the corporate world, it sickens me how fake so many people act just so they can get ahead and get what they want.

[Edited 5/10/11 10:13am]

if you were authentic in the corporate world you will get killed and smash to death

the trick is to appear authentic..

Evil

Why would taking drugs, sleeping around, or having a meth lab in the basement have any bearing on whether an individual be percieved good or bad? Both are highly subjective human constructs.

That said, some people are just downright mean - genetically pre-determined to cruelty - but the multitide are self-preserving animals who can swing either way dependent on environmental factors.

both, i think. some more of one, and other less so

TD3 said:

Vendetta1 said:

Bad. Just fucking evil.

you know why i'm giving you the eye.

People are generally good.....

What?

formallypickles said:

kitbradley said:

Absolutely. Working in the corporate world, it sickens me how fake so many people act just so they can get ahead and get what they want.

[Edited 5/10/11 10:13am]

if you were authentic in the corporate world you will get killed and smash to death

the trick is to appear authentic..

The question is why? Why did it come to this? And who said it should be? (Ethics anyone?)

Most people fall somewhere in between.

I believe that most of us want to be good, but there are just too many things in this world that lead us to be bad.

Doesn't it depend on what your definitions of good and bad are?

johnart said:

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

-Anne Frank

^^^^^^^^

This, most of the time.

yeah, and we all know how she ended up......

All people want to imagine themselves as good people. So they will twist and turn their own deeds and responsibilities in ways that sustain their perceived good self-image.

Psychopaths are good at that and are a very common breed. Most people will not identify them as such, most of them are very well loved and popular, succesful people. That's what psychopaths are good at, picturing their own false self image to the outerworld. A lot of them are succesful businessmen/ women

So, in essence, people generally would like to be good. However, we'r all just humans. So, limited by nature.

kitbradley said:

kewlschool said:

Good, bad doesn't really matter. Show me authentic (as existentialist philosophy) people any day.

Authentic people are hard to find.

Absolutely. Working in the corporate world, it sickens me how fake so many people act just so they can get ahead and get what they want.

[Edited 5/10/11 10:13am]

God. Ditto that! I HATE social climbers. I'd rather work in the mail room than some big position that I had to suck up to a bunch of phonies to get. Hate that stuff.

dJJ said:

All people want to imagine themselves as good people. So they will twist and turn their own deeds and responsibilities in ways that sustain their perceived good self-image.

Psychopaths are good at that and are a very common breed. Most people will not identify them as such, most of them are very well loved and popular, succesful people. That's what psychopaths are good at, picturing their own false self image to the outerworld. A lot of them are succesful businessmen/ women

So, in essence, people generally would like to be good. However, we'r all just humans. So, limited by nature.

Boy, this is SO True. I know a woman like this; a sociopath. She's AWFUL but people like her and I can't believe that she's able to pull the wool over their eyes. She's always been lurking for a rich husband and when she finally got one she puts on this "Oh shucks, we just happened to run into each other one day......" when I know for a fact she was stalking every rich man in town, hoping to snag one. She's passive aggressive and mean (but only to certain people like me for some reason) and people think she's so NICE and so they promote her and give her props. She's the devil. I hate people like that. I hate worse that people don't see them for what they are.

I would say most people are generally good...but everyone has the capacity and the ability to do unspeakable evil.

people r generally good,but like the weather can change in the blink of an eye!.

johnart said:

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

-Anne Frank

^^^^^^^^

This, most of the time.