Are People Basically Nice?

I think people are whatever you make them out to be in most cases. If you find all people are dull or mean then you are going to focus on the dull or the mean things whereas if you find people to be very friendly and funny per se then you find that to be true, most likely because you yourself are friendly and communicate with people easily

I think most people are basically nice or at least would like to be nice, and that nastiness is contagious and often passed on without knowing.

Alone, I think people are basically good. They make mistakes, but their overall behavior is decent. But when they are put with other people, others' mistakes can bring out the worst in them, and create a sort of chain reaction. I fwe were all more concerned with the good of society, this effect would be forestalled.

Most people follow, I think. (I'm not on a high horse here -- I'm a follower, too.) As such, most people's behavior is contingent on whom they choose to follow and on how they pursue their own interests.

Like Tal, I think most people, in the moment and separated from their self-chosen "leaders," are pretty decent.

A lot of righteous bastards, unfortunately, get people to follow and emulate them. Hence, a lot of groups are right bastards. As an individual at a bar somewhere, Himmler might have bought me a beer, cracked some jokes, and generally comported himself like a nice guy. Doesn't change the utterly, er, bad effect he had through his own actions and through his effect on others.

Ramble, ramble, ramble. I'll just paraphrase Men In Black: a person is good; people are stupid, ignorant, panicky, and dangerous.

A good point was brought up to me by my brother, though: Is there such a thing as morals when there's only one person? Thus, maybe my definition should be qualified to be that people are good in small groups...which would support the theory that you can only have a Utopia in small groups. What do you guys think?

Whether an adult is "basically nice" depends upon two factors:

1. Their genetic makeup
2. Their upbringing during childhood

I also think most people are basically nice. They are to me anyway :-D

individuals are nice
its when they meet others the trouble begins

Especially, when the others are A2K'ers as well. :wink:

Local culture matters, as well. People in Ohio have got to be the most consistently clueless, thoughtless and inconsiderate (in terms of traffic awareness, in terms of realizing they're not out there alone) drivers i've ever encountered. People in Ohio have got to be the most considerate "you've got a problem" or "you need to pull out" drivers i've ever seen. I consistenly hold up long lines of traffic behind me so that someone can pull out of a drive or a side street somewhere, and nobody gets hot about it, nobody honks their horns. I do it because others do it for me, and the others wait patiently, because they do it, and others do it for them.

Some idjit came down a ramp in newly fallen snow one day, totally clueless to the fact that he was accellerating into a sideswipe position with me. I doubt he ever even knew there was a problem, because, typically, he wasn't paying attention. I tried to drift over (rather than manoeuvre suddenly), because of the slick new snow, but it didn't work, i began to fishtail--so i cranked the wheel over, did a 180 and ended up in the median ditch--at least there was no collision. Within the space of about ten minutes, more than a dozen individuals stopped and either offered to call a wrecker, or actually were willing to hand me a cell phone so i could call someone.

Noboby in Ohio thinks it odd when i hold the door for others in public, but when i once opened the car door and held it for my sweetiepie in Toronto, a gentleman came over to say: "You don't see that kind of courtesy any more."

A lot of whether or not people are "nice" has to do with regional attitudes, i believe.

big mistake here
should have said others WITH THE OBVIOUS EXCEPTION OF ALL PARTICIPATING ON A2K

well almost. certainly all the people I've met

I rather like that. A bunch of Ohionians cause chaos but they help each other out of the mess. Makes you wonder whats best, to live somewhere safe where no one gives a damn or somewhere like Ohio where the guy who just ran over your foot offers you a lift to hospital, with the 3 others he injured earlier.

That was probably why he didn't see me as he was coming down that ramp, he probably had a carload he was carting off to the casualty ward . . .

I Wish I Loved the Human Race
Sir Walter A Raleigh (1861-1922)

I wish I loved the Human Race;

I wish I loved its silly face;

I wish I liked the way it walks;

I wish I liked the way it talks;

And when I'm introduced to one,

I wish I thought "What Jolly Fun!"

The thread's question, Are people basically nice? can be paraphrased, "Are people inherently nice?" That's what I take "basically" to mean. I cannot talk about our species' inherent nature in this regard. But I do agree with Aldous Huxley that "given half a chance" people can be decent. A problem arises when we consider variations in the notion of nice-ness across cultures. Different cultures may all have a common idea of "nice" but they have different standards for its measurement. That's a fundamental property of cultures: standards for the evaluation of behavior and things.