Sunday, September 16, 2012

Blog #3: Good vs. Evil

Though in film and in literature, we see characters defined as naturally "good" or "bad" and it may seem that these absolutely "good" characters can exist in the modern world, sorry to disappoint, but this is sadly not the case. Humanity naturally is flawed because of temptation and desire so while one can see others like Leah Kleppinger or a Peace Corps volunteer doing good work, it is only the result of social conditioning to do good things. Moreover, our only natural inclination to do anything for anyone else is what we receive out of the deal. Take a good student for example, does he/she really care about all the activities they participate in or are they just trying to achieve success for themselves? There may be some who do genuinely care about others, but for many they only care for their own personal gain. Hitler, another example, is seen as a man who wanted to make his adopted nation, Germany, great again, but what was Hitler's personal motivation. Did he really care about Germany or just leveling the playing field for those who had beaten him in the past whether it be at art school or fighting in World War I. Humanity's natural greed also really shows itself in the political arena, who is supposedly "good" while fighting to eradicate poverty and at the same time taking contributions from lobbyist.
While "good" and "evil" can be defined in reality, we must question other's motivation to do "good" or "evil" things. I am not trying to be pessimistic, but just a realist, we are not good people and need to be honest with ourselves about it, we all have our own personal motives and some of us are driven to succeed whether it hurts others or helps others.

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