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[Grakelin]

If you do bad things to people because somebody told you they suck, it is still your fault.

[Loud Whispers]

If you do bad things to people because somebody told you they suck, it is still your fault.

Child soldiers who have been raised to believe the enemy isn't human?

I guess what is in question here is the choice to throw away your moral compass; the difference between someone innately amoral, those who've known nothing but amoral lives and those who have willingly become amoral.

[kaijyuu]

I always ask why someone did something before making a moral judgement like that. The child soldier example is a good one of how indoctrination at a young age can really fuck someone up.

[misko27]

Cultural causes, there, relating to dehumanization and delusions of superiority.

If you're told that a certain class of people are of the same worth as animals enough, you might believe it.

One wonders, then, why these particular culture traits keep re-appearing in history, and are so rare as opposed to one that truly are pacifist.

[Frumple]

Because they largely aren't, we just have a better memory when it comes to crappy things. We remember bad times easier than good times.

As for the reason they keep reappearing, well, because it's easier to get folks that have been trained like that to do shit you want them to. So folks wanting to get people to do things not in their best interest keeping utilizing the same methods.

[Karnewarrior]

Evil regimes like the Nazis are more common in history because it's easier to hate something you don't understand than love something you do.

Also, the people fal victim more easily to a big lie than a small one. Hitler said that, and even though he was one of the most vile and disgusting men to walk the earth, he did manage to convince a nation of good people to exterminate their own based on minor differences that never made a difference before.

If humanity was really violent at its core, our culture wouldn't look up to peaceful activists like Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. If humanity was really hateful at its core, we wouldn't look up to inspirational men like Abraham Lincoln and Hellen Keller. If humanity was really evil, we wouldn't have heroes.

[RedWarrior0]

And if humanity was rational, we wouldn't have [Certain groups and persons].

[kaijyuu]

Aye. We're good, bad, evil, wonderful, all of the above.

Humanity is varied. That's just about the only generalization you can make about it.

[pisskop]

I just watched Fahrenheit 451 (1966).  Defug?

[Frumple]

Aye. We're good, bad, evil, wonderful, all of the above.

Humanity is varied. That's just about the only generalization you can make about it.

Ehng. Only generalization we can make about individuals. The numbers game involving our species as a whole is a somewhat different story. It's pretty easy to argue that we're inherently self-destructive on a species level scale*, ferex, and there's more stuff along those lines. Humanity actually is evil (and necessarily so, though it may have the capacity to at least mitigate that somewhat.) by the general concept of evil I work off of**, but individual humans generally aren't.

*Which isn't exactly saying much, really -- most species are when they're not held in check by something.
**Acts which reduce the chance of species survival while causing nothing but harm to the self or others. Good is that which increases the chance of species survival while causing no harm. Most things are somewhere in between the extremes of the scale. It's been a pretty effective heuristic, so far.

[misko27]

Aye. We're good, bad, evil, wonderful, all of the above.

Humanity is varied. That's just about the only generalization you can make about it.

I can, however, make assumptions regarding the majority of them. The majority, don't, care. Out of all things, the majority will not give a shit about any particular issue.
 

Evil regimes like the Nazis are more common in history because it's easier to hate something you don't understand than love something you do.

Also, the people fal victim more easily to a big lie than a small one. Hitler said that, and even though he was one of the most vile and disgusting men to walk the earth, he did manage to convince a nation of good people to exterminate their own based on minor differences that never made a difference before.

If humanity was really violent at its core, our culture wouldn't look up to peaceful activists like Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. If humanity was really hateful at its core, we wouldn't look up to inspirational men like Abraham Lincoln and Hellen Keller. If humanity was really evil, we wouldn't have heroes.

Anti-semtism wasn't new though. It is really old. Hence the 2000 years thing,
 
We look up to those things because we like thinking of ourselves as peaceful even while we worship the blood god. It fashoinable to do so. makes you feel good about yourself.

[Karnewarrior]

I just watched Fahrenheit 451 (1966).  Defug?

One of the few classic books I didn't dislike. It wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't "1984" bad.

[pisskop]

One of the few classic books I didn't dislike. It wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't "1984" bad.

Now I have to read it.  The whole time I couldn't decide if it was deliciously silly or subversively malevolent.

Edit: towards the middle I decided the statement it was making was not political.  I'd watch it again.

[Graknorke]

I just watched Fahrenheit 451 (1966).  Defug?

One of the few classic books I didn't dislike. It wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't "1984" bad.

What's bad about 1984?
It's written fine and it tells a story. That's pretty standard, as books go.

[Frumple]

It's written fine and it tells a story. That's pretty standard, as books go.

I have seen some atrocities of literature that fit that heuristic.

Fanfiction, man, fanfiction. "Written fine" and "tells a story" leaves a lot of wiggle room to violate your soul with a writhing orgy of splintered broomsticks.