Most people are fundamentally decent

[RosieH]

With a few (notable for their exceptionalism) exceptions.

[Mick Mac]

Feck off.

[????]

Got a spare E rosie?

[jctg]

Apart from people who read the Daily Mail. And the Daily Express.

[????]

..and the Guardian, who just think they are

[mockney piers]

90% of everything is shit.

[matty]

90% of people are shit, fixed that for you. Looking at the attitudes of people in ED, there seems to be a regional fluctuation where its 99% of ED residents being shit.

[citizenED]

Yep, most people are fundamentally reasonable, decent human beings. Nearly all the people I know are. I can hardly remember coming across anyone who was a really nasty piece of work.

[RosieH]

apart from citizenED, you can all fuck off, you bunch of cunts !

[HonaloochieB]

Cool your boots Rosie, don't let the hataz harsh your mellow.

[RosieH]

Ah, thank you HoneyBee, can always rely on you.

they IZ some hataz isn't it though?

[Kingy]

Posted somewhere else but Sid Vicious once said "I've met the man in the street and he's a c*nt" - but then Sid himself was a bit of a ........

[DJKillaQueen]

And wasn't it Anne Frank who wrote something along the lines of 'in spite of everything I still believe that people are basically good'.

[citizenED]

.....and she wrote it because most people are basically good. No doubt there are some unpleasant bullies around and some downright evil people, but I would go so far to say that most bad behaviour is down to momentary gliches in otherwise nice people.

[ImpetuousVrouw]

I agree that most people are fundamentally good, but most people are also cowards, so when their security/lifestyle/comfort etc is threatened, they often act like c*&ts.

[DJKillaQueen]

I tend to think the only measure between good and bad is compassionate vs selfish but I think Impetuous has a point in that even many good people find it hard to scarifce anything before the comfort of themselves or their family.

Funnily enough I was having a similar conversation the other day with someone. We were discussing why totalitarian governements suceed in making the bulk of their populations comply, even though the wider population vastly outnumbers those in power and those doing their work of enforcement for them. And it because exactly of that. The perhaps natural instinct of self preservation, even at the expense of the greater good and others. And if someone has children it becomes even harder to 'stand up'.

[PeckhamRose]

Several years ago when the petrol shortage was going on, people were fighting in the forecourts.

Over petrol.

I think we seem to be civil only when it suits us.

I think it is easy to say most people are good, unless they have been brought up racist etc.

My Mum would appear to most people to be lovely and kind and so on, but she is racist and also hates Germans. And Japanese people.

She lost relatives in the war, and her parents were racists and they all read Sun and Mail.

But we all have reasons for not being perfect, don't we?

It all starts off with parents though. I was lucky I worked out that it is irrational to hate Germans and Japanese and black people etc. I just hate traffic wardens, but I don't care what colour their skin is!

How can it be that people can walk past someone who is clearly suffering in the street, as evidenced by someone who posted on here a few weeks ago, saying they were in agony with a punctured lung. People just walk past those who are suffering. How can that be considered as most people being decent?

[KidKruger]

"I think we seem to be civil only when it suits us" - agreed, a lot of people in Rwanda (or, rather, NOT in Rwanda) would also agree.

"My Mum ... is racist and also hates Germans" - My Grandad is salt of the earth, gentle as a lamb but is racist to the core and also HATES Germans/Japanese - but he fought and killed loads of them as they tried to kill him and (did kill) his friends.

"How can it be that people can walk past someone who is clearly suffering in the street" - people are scared in this society, in London. Less likely to happen in Ivybridge, Devon or Ledbury, Herefordshire.

The original premise is accurate though - most people are decent and try to be.

[Narnia]

  Quote

Well you started the thread!

[????]

Most people are decent but also crap....there's your problem

[citizenED]

Try this, make a list of people you know. Put a tick by them is they're decent, a cross by them if they are horrible and mean. Tally the results.

Of course, as was said before, Sid Vicious thought the man in the steet was a %&*@. I'd say you see in others what you see in yourself.

[Keef]

Anne Frank was a child. Okay, a child who lived through hell, but still a nice forgiving child. That said, I think most people have good in their hearts, it's just that one person's right and good may differ from the next. I think most of us know what is plain wrong though.

[Emerson Crane]

citizenED Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> Of course, as was said before, Sid Vicious thought

> the man in the steet was a %&*@. I'd say you see

> in others what you see in yourself.

Certainly true in his case

[KalamityKel]

citizenED Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Try this, make a list of people you know. Put a

> tick by them is they're decent, a cross by them if

> they are horrible and mean. Tally the results.

>

I got roughly 50/50...

[citizenED]

Are you mixing in the wrong company, KK?