If you don’t agree with the concept of good or bad people, you dont have to answer just down vote. If you think a person is good or bad based on where they were born and live you don’t have to answer just down vote.
How people behave towards animals is a really big one for me. If someone doesn’t like cats or dogs or any sort of critters for any reason other than a traumatic childhood attack memory I assume something is deeply wrong with them. I realize plenty of bad people don’t hate animals, but I assume if you do then you can’t be good.
My mom dislikes animals but she isn’t mean to them, she just avoids having anything to do with them
I don’t think people can be divided into good and bad, I think it’s more of a spectrum. I generally judge how good a person is by the virtues they show in their actions. I like when people take accountability for their actions, are kind to others, do what’s right even if it’s difficult, are honest, and their actions align with what they claim to believe.
How do they treat those that are “beneath” them? Customer service workers, pets, kids, etc. Anyone that they should have some sort of authority over.
THIS is the answer. You can tell a lot about a person on how they treat people that they cannot use to make themselves richer or look better.
When you die, you will bring no money with you. You will bring no material items. Your words will be forgotten. Your name will eventually crawl its way back into the abyss of non-existence from where it came along with all the others. The ONLY thing that will have mattered in the slightest in your measly and momentary existence is how you made others feel. To live a life with any sort of self-importance is to rob yourself of the only thing that matters in the entirety of the known universe.
If they lie all the time, they are probably willing to do other awful things as well.
If they are willing to steal outside of a desperate situation, if they treat someone who’s been good to them awful, if they treat those beneath them awfuly, if they judge based on location, race, etnicity, etc. If they put whatever fantasy world they live in, over reality (antivaxxers and such, and yes religious people).
If they co-operated with Jeffrey Epstein, they only belong in the woodchipper.
In addition to some of the other criteria mentioned, some other indicators of a bad person are:
- Using bad-faith argument techniques, such as tone policing
- Endorsing or demanding conformity for conformity’s sake
Easy. By what they say and do.
I assume everyone is good by default, and I’ll usually let a tasteless joke slide once, because we all occasionally put our foot in mouth.
If their actions and words don’t mesh with my own moral compass, they aren’t a person I associate with any more than necessary.
Depends on how they handle their Nardwuar interview.
I’ve always struggled with it, so I’ve learned to ask someone better at character judgement than I.
I used to check with my dog. Then I met my wife and found out over a year how moral she was and how consistently she applied those morals. Now I ask her.
If a person operates as if nothing is unconditional and they expect something in return or else you are deemed worthless, they’re a fucking cunt.
If a person continually makes a situation about themselves even when it’s 100% not, that’s a red flag.
If they whine and complain to get what they want or have others do for them, they’re a bad person.
Yelling at a newborn baby in a punishing manner as if they have any understanding of anything.
Although philosophers who embrace moral realism will have different views, my takeaway is that it is much harder to be a virtuous moral agent than the layperson assumes.
That said, if I find that a person often puts their own interests above those of everyone else, this is a good indication of questionable character.
This you?
This is why everyone hates moral philosophy professors
Ha! In a few ways, yes.
I assume everyone is good untill they give me a reason to think otherwise. However, for me to know that someone truly is a good person takes years of knowing and interacting with them.
I don’t like to think of people as immutably good or bad, but I get what you meant.
There’s a bunch of factors.
- are they honest?
- are they kind?
- do they care about things other than themselves?
- do they try to make the world better?
So, someone who lies, is cruel, doesn’t care about anyone else, and leaves the world a mess is being a pretty bad person.
Someone who just keeps their head down, goes to work, and is polite to people they meet is kind of middling.
If society was only copies of this person, would it be better or worse to live in than current society?
Oh no, my puddle of depression is gonna become a tsunami of depression.
A society of "me"s is cooked. Unable to do anything because its too scary to go outside.
The worst thing you’ll run into is another depressed puddle. Can’t be too bad unless you’re something like a reckless driver because nothing matters.
Louis Rossman had a video years ago that really got me looking at people differently. An obvious sign for him is how they treat animals. animals sadly are often the ultimate litmus test for ones morality. I find that respecting an animal, its boundries and its emotions is a thing only possible when youve developed a (imo) basic sense of empathy, that for pets and animals cant be expressed verbally.
Think of times when a person was trying to force an animals to behave in a particular way purely for self intrest. Or if someone you know outright denies the complex emotions of animals. I am by no means an animal rights activist and i often can be heard yelling at my dog to stop barking or etc. But i think even if we “own” them most good people dont think of pets as propperty, status symbols, or entertainment.
the moment i see behavior like this I try to correct and if they actively fight me on it or make no attempt to improve. I will disconnect from them entirely, not worth it. If thats how you treat family, i dont want to see how you treat friends.
If they are willing to hurt other people for their own benefit or for no reason. Or if they are willing to help someone else do that. (Like how republicans voted Trump into office to keep him out of prison.)
