Humans: Are we evil?

redisforever

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Oct 5, 2009
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I just finished watching Discovery Channel's How Evil are You, with Eli Roth, and I was wondering, are humans inherently good, or evil?

What do you think?
Personally, I don't have an opinion, yet. We'll see.
 

Marter

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Oct 27, 2009
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Of course we're evil! How else could we do things like, um, organizing charities? What kind of optimistic person are you to even question this?

EDIT: Okay, in case I'm going to get a flood of quotes, let me state an actual opinion.

Some people are evil. They suck and do bad things. Some people are good. They do nice things like hugging bunny rabbits. WE HAPPY?
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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We aren't inherently good or evil. We are inherently flawed, but our flaws manifest themselves differently in every being.
 

Aulleas123

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Aug 12, 2009
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I think that people have natural tenancies. We will always fight, lie, cheat, steal, and do anything to get ahead. I don't think that makes us evil, just a little naughty.
 

dududf

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Aug 31, 2009
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I think we have a stronger disposition towards evil tendencies. Doesn't mean we all take up on those tendencies, and that as a species we have a great potential for good. Just that as a whole we aren't really doing a net gain of good.

So because of that I think we are a little evil.
 

Strain42

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Mar 2, 2009
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According to Community, we are.

That's why Greendale finally beat City College in the debate tourney.
 

Waaghpowa

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Apr 13, 2010
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Good and evil are relative. What some would call evil, some others may call nature.
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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Soviet Heavy said:
We aren't inherently good or evil. We are inherently flawed, but our flaws manifest themselves differently in every being.
I'd say this is probably the best response to this question.

I mean, I myself am not evil, and yet if humans were inherently evil, then I'd be evil too.
However, we also know that many very evil people have existed, so it wouldn't make sense to say that people are inherently good either.

Basically, it's human nature, that some people will be good, and some people will be malicious.

By malicious, I mean, people who love to harm other people. These people are numerous.
 

Xanadu84

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Humans are inherently self-sustaining, which leads to a balance of both. Considering our ancestry, we are downright saintly, though
 

LarenzoAOG

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Apr 28, 2010
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Considering we're not all fucking dead I would say the good to evil ration is decidedly pointed in the good direction.
 

Furioso

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Jun 16, 2009
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We are indeed evil, of course good deeds rarely go mentioned, but the evil acts in human history are so unbelievably horrendous that it easily surpasses it, for example, when the Russians pushed the Germans back in WW2, they did some satanicly evil things, there are accounts of women losing count after 64 rapes, just to start out
 

gabe12301

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Evil compared to what other sentient race? That's what I thought.

It's all perspective. Humans have always been at war, doing genocides, stealing, and whatnot. But we've also been cooperative, and kind, even if it is just for social acceptance. It's not evil, it's not good it's human.
 

Soviet Steve

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Despite our flaws, our entire societal structure is based around trying to please other people and make life better for each-other. We fuck up along the way, but what we've accomplished and what we hope to accomplish goes far beyond else we have encountered thus far.

We show compassion with the unfortunate, we debate our influence on the eco system and try to remedy it through various means, and we're just about the only species that seriously considers our effect on other species.

We have limited capacity for rationalism, and yet in a mere 11,000 years we have evolved from hunter-gatherers to a spacefaring civilization. There's good grounds for optimism, despite the few bad apples and temporary setbacks that occur.
 

Atticus89

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Nov 8, 2010
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No. But to be fair I haven't eaten my bowl of puppies soaking in the blood of orphans before praying to the Dark Lord of Destruction today nor have I slaughtered countless people, ransacked villages, and warmed my body to bonfires of dead corpses as I drink the tears of bankers who've committed suicide.

Besides that, no. Humans aren't evil. We sure aren't saints though. Would a saint even type what I just did?
 

DarkRyter

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Dec 15, 2008
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We're self serving, but societally(that's not a word, but it is now), we tend to value Altruism and selflessness, although evolutionary psychology suggests even that serves a utilitarian purpose.

Or, you could go the cool Moral Relativist route, and say evil isn't really a thing.
 

WaywardHaymaker

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Aug 21, 2009
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Waitwaitwaitwait wait wait. Wait.

With Eli Roth? Like, Hostel's Eli Roth?

I suppose he'd know something about being evil.
 

retyopy

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Aug 6, 2011
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No. We are all null. Our experiences and random personalities fill in the holes.
 

chaosyoshimage

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Probably, I'm sure we're inherently selfish and just all around terrible, but some of us like to try and rise above that. Of course, there is no try...