Are you a good person?

[Ferris]

This is something that has been bugging me since becoming a father - am I a good person? I think I am (I'm not evil) but is that enough? I have never voted conservative and donate a good wedge to charity. Is that sufficient? Is there more I should be doing? It's all very complicated.

My line of work is a bit of a moral blank, without saying what I do. Should that factor into it all? I worry about all this (not hugely worried, in fairness) when I'm slightly pissed - does that mean I get more points because I think about it? Or does that not count because I'm not spending every hour god sends fighting climate change and protecting endangered rhinos (or whatever)? I don't really know.

So I ask - are you good? Do you feel like you are good? If so (or not), why?

[Ferris]

god what a shit thread. This probably counts against me.

[bgmnts]

I think what defines whether you are a good person or not is what you do for a living, nothing else matters.

[Cerys]

I like to think I'm a good person.  And then I remember that I spent rather lot of today murdering NPCs on the XBox.

[Kryton]

Chaotic good but sometimes slip into Chaotic neutral when I'm depressed.

[Ray Travez]

god what a shit thread. This probably counts against me.

Made me laugh.

Seems quite obvious from here that you're a good person, Ferris. What 'a good person' is though seems less obvious, and whether it's important or not, who knows?

[TheBrownBottle]

I like to think I'm a good person.  And then I remember that I spent rather lot of today murdering NPCs on the XBox.

Did you enjoy it though?  Perhaps those NPCs got what was coming, but if you ENJOYED it, then that's psychopathic.

I remind myself whenever I'm murdering legions of drones on video games that my actions are a necessary evil, and take no pleasure in what I'm doing.

[Cerys]

I enjoyed it to the point of occasional manic giggles.  In real life, I don't even swat flies.

[Mister Six]

I like to think I'm a good person.  And then I remember that I spent rather lot of today murdering NPCs on the XBox.

Xbox? Definitely evil. Get a PS4, heathen.

[Cerys]

I'd love to, but Capita told the DWP that I don't qualify for nice things.

[chveik]

I think what defines whether you are a good person or not is what you do for a living, nothing else matters.

unemployment is messing with your head

[ProvanFan]

Pissed on a bike.

[Dewt]

It's a simple message, and it comes from the heart: believe in yourself, that's the place to start!

[TheBrownBottle]

Pissed on a bike.

The disappointing sequel to Snakes on a Plane

[The Boston Crab]

I'm a good deeds bad words kind of guy.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I think I'm pretty sound. I just hope I don't turn into my Dad as I get older, as he became a massive bellstain in his dotage, much like his father before him. They say you turn into your parents as you get older, and that frightens me a bit.

[Icehaven]

There's so many potential definitions of 'good' that I couldn't really say, however even using the most customary I reckon I'm neutral with regular incidences of goodness. There's enough times, when a decision has had to be made, that what suits me best has been the first criteria that involuntarily pops into my head. I don't always do the right thing either, even when it's perfectly apparent what it would be. But I don't club seals or anything either so cut me some slack.

[Konki]

I enjoyed it to the point of occasional manic giggles.  In real life, I don't even swat flies.

[checkoutgirl]

I tend to tie a lot of morality up in not coming onto women. Like denying my sexuality and leaving women alone and steering clear of the whole metoo stuff is important from a moral standpoint. Almost as if me being very docile might redress some rapey creep out there. Almost like I'm advertising to women that we're not all like that girls.

Give a couple of bob to kids charities every month. Only done that for a few years though and I'm 41. Although most folk give nowt I'd say.

I try not to be mean.

I cook. I clean. I make dinner.

Rarely ring my mother but chat if she rings me. Rarely ring siblings except birthdays.

If there was a maker and he asked me if I was good and I had to be really sincere I'd say I'm not bad. Sidney Cooke was bad.

[Konki]

The vast majority of people think they're good don't they? That's how they justify all the shitty things they do. Everyone has their own moral framework (whether it's informed by parents, church, the Daily Mail, something else) and, as long as they're abiding by that, they're good to go.

The only way to judge whether you've genuinely been a good person is to wait until death and then haunt your own wake when everyone's had a few.

[checkoutgirl]

The vast majority of people think they're good don't they?

Does Sidney Cooke think I don't drug and gang rape to death any kids under the age of 7. I've got some standards.

[BlodwynPig]

Ferris is good people

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

No.

[Konki]

Does Sidney Cooke think I don't drug and gang rape to death any kids under the age of 7. I've got some standards.

Sidney Cooke isn't the vast majority of people.

[Cerys]

I have an axe, you know.  It's very shiny.

[checkoutgirl]

Sidney Cooke isn't the vast majority of people.

Phew!!

[Noodle Lizard]

I think I'm getting better at it. I have plenty of bad (or negative anyway) thoughts, but rarely act on them other than mocking or moaning about things/people, and I'm trying to rein that in a bit as well. I used to think I was a properly shite person, but experience has taught me that the bar of "average goodness" is set lower than I thought, and I think the objectively worst thing I've ever done was cheat on a girlfriend (who had recently cheated on me herself, and who I was intending on leaving). The guilt I felt from that was so intense that I don't think I could ever do something like that again without having a full breakdown.

I try to treat people as I'd want to be treated, even if they've properly wronged me or someone close to me. I've got no revenge streak anymore, I don't like to "punish" and I don't like to hold grudges, even though all those things seem to be valuable currency in society nowadays/always. I do sometimes wonder if De Sade had it right in Justine (basically "what's the good in being good?"), and I think he probably did, but it doesn't come naturally for me to abandon what I reckon to be "decency" - even if doing so may well be beneficial to me.

I've got a kid now too, and I think it's not a bad example to set. But there's a thin line between being decent and letting people walk all over you that's sometimes difficult to navigate - especially in school, where it's open season for being a cunt with little at stake, and then in the wider world where cunts innately tend to end up in positions of power or authority. I suppose it depends on what you place more value in, and I'm not sure that's always a choice. Again, recent experience has taught me that people are more or less what they are, and any conscious changes are largely superficial or temporary. In that sense, it's hard for me to even blame a cunt for being a cunt.

Agh, just rambling now. Sorry.

[seepage]

are we... the baddies?

[garbed_attic]

No. I just bounce back and forth between lawful and chaotic.

[timebug]

I don't claim to be a good person;but I try not to be a bad person.Unless someone pisses me off...