I was answering a discussion question for my humanities class on legalism, a style of ruling based on fear and militaristic conquest. As I was reading the replies from my fellow classmates I noticed that almost all of them believed it was better to be feared than loved as a ruler. They believed that the human race is inherently evil and must be treated as such. What do you guys believe? Are humans inherently evil, good or neutral? Or maybe you believe something else.
Evil is the wrong word. The problem is that humans are naturally self-serving (not necessarily a bad thing, just an instinct.)
thats what happens when you have a species brainwashed to believe in gods, and not even actually kind ones at that. then you never actually have a leader people love, its hate or fear, so they dont know any better.
I believe The human race is so complicated that Nothing is black and white, everything is grey. It's almost all relative. In my opinion at least. As far as the human race being evil. It most definitely is to a certain extend. It's evil and its good. It's compassionate but at the same time it's selfish. It's cruel and brutal but it's also loving sometimes.
It is complex indeed. It just baffled me that everyone said the same thing, that fear is the best tool for ruling or when you want something done. But then again, they probably didn't give a shit about actually thinking about their answer.
The only way to eradicate the issues that surround our planet is through unconditional love. Love yourself and radiate love. I just copped a Porsche and I'm on the Versace come up.
Humans are naturally good, loving people From our environment and experience we change Evil is created in you by you, nothing more
watch this film. my philosophy instructor showed me it [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYtfnONazTU]I Am Movie Trailer Official (HD) - YouTube[/ame] it's about how the nature of humanity is cooperation and love, yet we've built a society upon competition, greed, and ignorance from a personal standpoint, i find that the mainstream catholic views on humanity are very ridiculous. if you wanted to be "right" about something, satan has already won and that's very clear
It deeply saddens me to know so many people think this way. That they believe they cannot trust their brothers because of how society has evolved. It's this kind of thinking that lets them be controlled. It's not their leaders they fear, it's themselves. They just put trust in these leaders hoping that they can control the people and protect them. The futility of this however is that they know their free will cannot be controlled. But people are not inherently evil. It is our nature to do good, be productive, and be accepted. Even the most evil men have good intentions. Hitler just wanted to better his country, he just went way overboard. We may be self-serving but that doesn't change the fact that we are also compassionate. If only we focused more on teaching things like better judgment and understanding than societal institutions we'd have more clear-headed individuals who could think of the interests of more than just themselves. I like what tastytrichomes said about the contrast between humanity and society. It is unfortunate how we have come to organize ourselves by emphasizing and exploiting our negative characteristics when love and cooperation could have taken us so much farther.
Humans can be just as negative as they can be positive. One of the greatest things about the human race is the power of our choices. Whether that choice is to be positive or negative is completely up to the person...... Sounds like everyone in your class made their choice already though
Humans are by nature greedy...because of that people for the most part will cross you if the the benefit is large enough...which is why it is better to be feared...people have to be afraid of crossing you they have to think that the consequence of betrayal will far outweigh any potential gain. You have to be careful though not to take it overboard because if you become despised the people will betray you just because they want to see you suffer...so it's a delicate balance, but yeah stupid hippy optimism aside as a leader it's better to be feared. Its just how it is.
Technically ALL aminals are self serving. Survival is the most basic instinct. Just so happens that humans have the ability of verbal communication which has allowed the evil ones to manipulate others for personal gains. A wise man is one who doesn't manipulate nor is manipulated. Idk how many people watch the Walking Dead, but last night's was a great episode. They brought back Morgan (the guy who saved Rick in the first episode) and he said something like "The good people die and the bad people die, but its the weak people that survive. the weak inherited the earth." That was pretty deep for me. Basically saying that the "weak" are neutral on the good vs evil thing, and they will be the ones to survive. The weak are only focused on existence as opposed to trying to make a point.
Ah this is so interesting. This is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for thanks for all the input guys. I believe this more. In my experience when you give people the benefit of the doubt they rise to the occasion (Yes that is from that movie our idiot brother but it was the best way I've heard to say that).
This movie is great I watched it in my sociology class it was very interesting and eye opening. If this topic interests any of you I would recommend this movie highly.