Does doing good things make you a good person?

My God this country really is in trouble if we do not understand doing good. I am quite sure we are all being smart arse, pontificators and that deep down, we know.
I strive to be good, though I am inherently evil, hope my better sides comes up trumps.
 
jmc007 said:
My God this country really is in trouble if we do not understand doing good. I am quite sure we are all being smart arse, pontificators and that deep down, we know.
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No, what we know is the difference between right and wrong. Good and evil are fuzzy, adaptable concepts twisted to fit any given situation to project an image of justification for the actions of an individual or collective.
 
You can only judge people by what you see them do, so if you see them do good things then to you they would be a good person(unless you saw them sneering whent they did it).

I dont think you can judge intent only actions, if someone really evil does lots of good to get some reward then they are good and deserve the reward.

No one can be truly selfless, it doesnt matter why they do, the only thing that matters is the result, not some confusing internalised mess.
 
Casdawer said:
I strive to be a good person.

If I see someone in trouble i will do my best to help them. If someone is walking to the door I'm going through i will hold it for them.

I don't do it for personal gain, i do it because it's the right thing to do.
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This. I don't think "This makes me a good person." *ego boost* I do it because it's just right.
 
The thing i hate about being good is that you don't get noticed i feel anyway.
I try and work to my capibility at work and do the best i can day in day out (retail). & have nothing to show for it.

But as a person i try and be nice all the time!
 
being a good person makes you a good person, no amount of doing good will make up for your personal misgivings. I know this as my ex does a lot of "good things", yet is a truely terrible, terrible person.

Example: She believes that by very obviously, staring and then looking away, ignoring a shopkeepers disfigurement (amputated fingers I think it was) that he will have appreciated her not freaking out about it. This was apparently doing a good deed.
Aside from the obviously retarded mentality behind it every single "good" thing she does is completely self serving, primarily because she knows she's a bad person and wants to make herself feel less so.
 
edscdk said:
but hitler thought it was GOOD and RIGHT to kill jews so he was a good person then?
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Well no. I meant good things that are generally considered good by society or 'morally' good, holding doors open, picking up rubbish, helping someone with directions if they ask for them.

Genocide doesn't make an appearance on that list.
 
OriginalJonty said:
Well no. I meant good things that are generally considered good by society or 'morally' good, holding doors open, picking up rubbish, helping someone with directions if they ask for them.

Genocide doesn't make an appearance on that list.
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aside from the picking up rubbish (which I will occaisionally do in anger against the person who dropped it, without a good thought in my mind) aren't both of those just good manners/polite.
 
One can't truely define a person as good as we all have our own ideas as to what is good or evil all you can truely do is what you feel is right. Remember you are in charge of your own fate not those who judge you.
 
simulatorman said:
Very tasty, why so?
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It satisfies some abject need to think there is some other

a)higher power
b) Order of things to existence i.e. the "Good" overarching everything


A person obsessed with "doing good" (har har) e.g. overseas charity worker in africa building wells and what not and "saving lives" and communities because of their goodness....is akin to someone with an eating disorder binging on food. Its a compulsion. However rather than being a physical compulsion "doing good" is an emotional or psychological one.

Its a fantasy perpetuated by those who would profit from MILLIONS of people believing it. (ie the good and evil hypothesis)

Unfortunately when growing up we are bombarded with media forcing this down our throats so even if we dont want to believe it...we dont really have a choice (a young mind is like a sponge u see critical faculties develop much later)....takes years to "untrain" your mind from believing it.

:)
 
Actions speak louder than words, or even motivations.

Good people do good things, sometimes it's altruistic, sometimes it isn't, but the world would be worse if they didn't do them.
 
Abraham said:
aside from the picking up rubbish (which I will occaisionally do in anger against the person who dropped it, without a good thought in my mind) aren't both of those just good manners/polite.
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Aren't good manners/being polite usually what makes up part of a good person?

It's interesting to see what people think makes a good person.
 
OriginalJonty said:
Aren't good manners/being polite usually what makes up part of a good person?

It's interesting to see what people think makes a good person.
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I'd say it's a part of it, but I wouldn't say without good manners/being polite you couldn't be a good person. What about House MD? :D
 
Deadbeat said:
No, what we know is the difference between right and wrong. Good and evil are fuzzy, adaptable concepts twisted to fit any given situation to project an image of justification for the actions of an individual or collective.
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On your concept do not good and evil themselves , or rather righteousness and evil, ;) become "fuzzy"?
You have to know what righteousness and evil is first; I do believe.

Going back to good and bad, maybe they are kind of wishy, washy concepts, afterall. :p
 
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