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"Everyone did what they thought was right."


AnonymousSpeed
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Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. Please take one



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Pseudo-social experiment. I heard a guy say you can tell a lot about a person's worldview based on their answer to this.

I actually posted this in Serious Discussions instead of Far From the Forest which is where I usually post my deep philosophical inquiries so y'all better not be disappointing me.

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11 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

I voted "bad thing," so what do I win?

9 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I feel like I'd answer, "What was the context?" But part of that's probably my autism.

Context is important, but I think the point of the question is to get more of a general answer. In the majority of circumstances, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is the conscience generally trustworthy?

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These are murky waters, but generally i think it is a bad thing. I mean just cause you think its the right thing, doesn't mean it actually is a good thing for you or everyone else. And I think this attitude could lead to people just going with whatever first thought comes into their mind, believing they wouldn't see faults in it after closer/deeper examination. I'm not saying this can't lead to good, but generally speaking I would urge people to consider why they think what they think first.

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I think negativity bias plays a big part into how we give our answers to this question. An instant thought that comes to mind when I read the title statement; "What if people that think what they are doing is right actually turns out to be pretty bad?" That question plays into the idea that my right is going to be different from someone else's right and another person's left.

However, I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and say that everyone doing what they think is right is a good thing. Free will is an integral component of human nature, and we wouldn't have any concept of "good and bad" or "right and wrong" in the first place if we didn't.

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I’m gonna say it’s a good thing. We all have our own ideas of what is right or wrong in this world. Justice and Morality are subjective things for the most part all of which are based in our own experiences and perceptions. Everyone percieves the world differently. And while there are some things that we can agree are universal,  overall we’re all just people following our own paths forged by our beliefs and values. All ideas have the right to exist regardless of what they are and we should learn to respect that.

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With no context, it's an impossible question. Did they make their choice under duress? What information did they have? Was the choice their own, or was somebody else there to talk them through it? Are the consequences their own to bear, or somebody elses? All I can say is that it makes it a lot easier to judge that person if this is their excuse. Whereas a logic-based excuse, even one that is totally bogus, at least would give you pause to consider. 

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1 hour ago, Ottservia said:

All ideas have the right to exist regardless of what they are and we should learn to respect that.

Then you introduce the paradox of liberalism tolerance. By which a tolerance for everything would inevitably mean being dominated/exterminated by those who believe only their view of the world is correct and those who do not agree should either be exiled or worse.There needs to be limits to this. Mainly one should not be tolerant of the intolerant.

 

Edit: correction of the name of the paradox. Thanks AnonymousSpeed

Edited by Zanarkin
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1 hour ago, Zanarkin said:

Then you introduce the paradox of liberalism.

The paradox of tolerance, not the paradox of liberalism. I personally find it very silly but that's a debate for another time*.

*- Translators note, "another time" means "never"

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1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

With no context, it's an impossible question.

C'mon dude at least try and play along.

Well, if someone said of a situation, "Everyone did what they thought was right," would you assume the situation they were referring to ended well or ended poorly? Giving the question context would sort of negate the point but making it about an instance instead of a principle or attitude or framework or, you know, whatever more generally applicable thing I'm asking about. I don't know. This is a pseudo-scientific experiment, I don't have to make sense.

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"What they thought was right for them" or "what they thought was right for everyone"? One can do the former while knowing they're a villain to others.

Or is it a meta question? Are you asking if this is a good principle in writing? Because I would say yes in that case, but historically a lot of evil people have used this excuse or one like it for their actions.

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I just wrote this entire stupid paragraph because your lack of context had me completely misunderstanding the question. People who are very confused, pay attention to the survey title. I did not do so.

Anyway, I’m assuming you want us to literally answer of whether or not everyone doing what they think is right is a good thing, and not say that it’s a bad thing due to the negative... I can’t remember the word. There’s a word for the popular opinion/implication/stigma around a word separate from its definition, but when I try searching for it Google just gives me the definition of one of the words I use. Someone tell me the word I’m thinking of.

Anyway, I don’t know if you want us to go based off of that or the literal definition-

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Well, if someone said of a situation, "Everyone did what they thought was right," would you assume the situation they were referring to ended well or ended poorly? Giving the question context would sort of negate the point

Okay but that sort of context is actually vital for understanding the question. Just based on the phrase, got it. A bad thing it is.

Edit: The word was connotation, thank you eclipse. Although now I am less certain that that is what AnonymousSpeed was referring to.

Edited by Sooks
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Everyone living by their own respective standards of what is right or wrong will likely lead to chaos and disorder.

There's a reason laws (both moral and legal) exist. Leave humans to their own arbitrary desires and it all inevitably goes to hell and a handbasket.

Look at history as proof of that being the case time and time again.

All this is to say, yes. It would be a "bad thing" if answered in the general sense in which I took the question as being asked.

Edited by twilitfalchion
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I think that there is obviously a limit to what I would consider "right" or "wrong", but generally, I think that living by values is a good thing. I am basically in the middle here, since there's certainly bad things to both sides.

That said, a world where people do their best to live by their values, help other people and try and bring the world up would be a good one.* At least better than one where you do what would make you successful.

For me as an individual, I always want to strive to do what I think is right, even if it means doing something hard, so I guess it'll mean that I'll have to vote yeah, doing what you think is right is a good thing.

*I am aware that there are certainly a lot of people with twisted perceptions of life, though.

17 minutes ago, Sooks said:

and not say that it’s a bad thing due to the negative... I can’t remember the word.

Maybe impact or repercussion?

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This thread confuses me.

5 minutes ago, Benice said:

That said, a world where people do their best to live by their values, help other people and try and bring the world up would be a good one.* At least better than one where you do what would make you successful.

Those are not mutually exclusive. That viewpoint is actually a little sad... you okay?

5 minutes ago, Benice said:

Maybe impact or repercussion?

No, it’s about the feel around a specific word or phrase. I think it starts with a C.

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14 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Those are not mutually exclusive. That viewpoint is actually a little sad... you okay?

I do appreciate the concern and I'm not exactly thrivin' right now, but I'm feeling good at the moment. I'm just very anti-capitalist. I wouldn't consider myself an extremist, but I've always thought that communism would be better than capitalism. (I don't think that communism works in practice, though. Ideologically, just it aligns a lot with how I think.)

Basically, I just don't like the idea of working to earn for yourself. I do not mean that you should abandon your family or stop working because you're only doing it for yourself, I mean that, by my values, living by your values is more fulfilling and important than living for yourself or for money.

14 minutes ago, Sooks said:

No, it’s about the feel around a specific word or phrase. I think it starts with a C.

CHUNK

Um... I'll get back to you on that one.

Edited by Benice
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I can see this going both ways, but ultimately decided to pick it as a good thing. As long as everyone makes an honest effort to make something work (even if it fails) I would still consider that a good thing because it brought some people together.

I think this experiment has to do with negativity? I'm not familiar with this experiment, but is that what you're trying to discern?

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The more I think about what AnonymousSpeed said, the less sure I am that I interpreted it correctly. I will change it vote to a good thing, because I do think everyone doing what they think is right will generally lead to a better outcome.

7 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Connotations?

Yes! That’s it!

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I hope I'm not the only one to whom this scene is brought to mind.

So I guess given that scene is the first thing I think about I have to say bad thing...? I think? Is a neutral shit happens answer a valid response? Like isn't that the way the world is by default? Very few people think they're not justified in the things they do.

Edited by Jotari
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