Geneviev wrote:The news right now seems pretty hopeless. It's easy to see it and assume that people are incapable of love for their fellow human beings, or compassion, or generosity. After all, there are so many people who act as if they don't care right now. But at the same time, there are positive news stories out there if you know where to look. Those stories make it seem like every single person can become a hero, and every single person is capable of acting out of love and compassion. I believe that people don't easily fit into either one of those categories, since we're just too complicated for that.
But the question I do want to ask is this: Are people capable of being entirely good in every situation? Or is the news (which doesn't explicitly try to make people look good) right about what human beings are capable of?
Personally, I believe that people are already good. That is why we have positive news stories about people who are willing to do the right thing. It is also the reason that positive news stories aren't acknowledged often in the news. Good people are so common that we don't consider it news when they do good. But, I don't think that we can become perfectly good, at least not in this world. Otherwise, we would have no news and no need for it. Everything would be too predictable and peaceful. So, essentially, I believe that people can become better but not perfect.
Most people are capable of good, and capable of bad. Some are off that spectrum, but most people aren't.
However...
...if we want to look for examples of goodness and badness in people, doesn't it make more sense to look around us rather than in the news?
I see good and bad behaviour by people every day, at work, in my local shops or wherever. When I see that, what I'm seeing is unvarnished behaviour, whether positive or negative.
I see good and bad behavior every day in the news. When I see that, what I'm seeing is what the news outlet has chosen to sell me. And whether that is news about goodness in people or badness in people is in some ways irrelevant. Either way, the real reason I'm seeing it is because the media outlet is selling it to me to keep me buying, or keep me clicking.
That's how it is for a media outlet, and the same goes for social media, surely?