Why People Do Bad Things

The core of the problem is that people cannot agree on what "bad" is. What people will agree on is that they themselves have an understanding of what "bad" is, even if those understandings are not in agreement.

Yes, I agree. Very good. My next question would be ... is there any common thread that runs through everyone's concept of "bad?" My guess is there is. Quite a bit, would be my guess. The disagreement probably comes in the finer elements of the definitions.

I asked on the Chess Server why we break the Golden Rule, thinking that chess players are pretty smart .. their concensus was that it's broken because people are trying to get some kind of advantage over their fellow human being, getting "one up on your neighbor" -- some sort of hangover from natural selection/survival of the fittest, where organisms within a changing environment compete for scant resources.

Have you ever taken a moment and observed people's behavior at an all-you-can-eat buffet? (And maybe this is an American phenomenon, though I saw the same in Canada.) It's remarkable. A table spread with more food than the gathered crowd can possibly eat. No possibility of shortage or scarcity. And yet people assume an aggressive stance, doing subtle things to maximize their access to the food and minimize others.

Note: In Canada I witnessed a frenzy at a Chinese buffet. The server brought the crab legs out -- and here there was some scarcity, but only temporary as they were bringing more out on a frequent basis. A crowd gathered to snatch up the food. The server literally threw the tray of crab legs into the steam table from about three feet away. A dozen people rushed it, pushing others out of the way, grabbing handfuls of the crab legs with their hands. I stood from a distance and watched in stunned amazement.

But then, if that's true, then does my definition of evil mean that "life itself is evil"? ie. If what life does is break the Golden Rule, and if the breaking of the Golden Rule is evil, then is life evil?

So in summary it appears that while people can't agree on precisely what "bad" is, they agree that there is bad, and that most people engage in bad behavior from time to time.

My response to this is one that will not gain universal acceptance. But I offer it anyway. The Bible portrays the problem perfectly, in my mind: mankind is fallen. Created good, it has fallen away from God and become infected with this inclination towards selfishness, towards treating others as they would not like to be treated.

Life is not evil; fallen man is evil. Mankind needs a way to crawl out of the pit he's created. There are two ways to do that:

1. By man's own effort
2. With God's assistance

Experiments with #1 have not been very successful. Partially successful, yes. Momentarily successful, yes. But permanently successful on a larger scale, no.

Very few people -- including myself, I fear -- really believe in #2.