I have come to learn that most people are basically good people.

People suck.

Yes it doesn’t matter what you do, what you say, what you think, what you believe, what you feel, what experience you have, what you have studied there is someone here that points out how wrong you are. I probably don’t have the sentence structure correct or all spelling correct so someone needs to make sure and point it out.

Well I know from experience that everyone, even the most unlikely people have a dark side and a very well lit side. Not everyone is really in touch with both sides. But it’s there in everyone. Thefts aren’t all bad and goody two shoes aren’t all good.

Loll… constrasting views between @marinelife and @syz ! Well, I’m with @marinelife ! Also, there is a lot of good in the worst of us and lots of bad in the best of us. We just do the best we can one day at time.

There are 2 basic emotions: love and fear. Everything else is an extension of those.

People are unpredictably crazy, contradictory, and surprisingly altruistic at times. and also, mostly just scared or sad.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard watch it….not me my young friend. loll

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Can you define crazy?
I love asking this question!

@daytonamisticrip crazy as in totally irrational, engaging in really bizarre behavior, etc. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, I know a girl who is really intelligent and in a great relationship, but she goes apeshit when her boyfriend doesn’t send her smilies in his text messages.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard yep, that would be irrational… but, that person will be tempered by life’s woes. It so shall pass.

I have found most people to be pretty decent. Some are pure gold dust and a few are shifty. I try and treat everyone with respect as far as posssible.

Most people are not as self-confident and secure as they would like others to think that they are, or as they would like to be.

One extension of that is the need to always be “right” in any verbal exchange. Another is a tendency to take offense when none is intended.
A third is the apparent need to share more of their personal lives with strangers than some might feel is appropriate.

Just when I let my guard down, when I’m convinced that I can trust someone with my heart, I get proven wrong again. I can’t let my guard down. Basically what @syz said.

@chyna certainly understand that comment.

Friendship, love, and the like is basically trading and economics.

One has valuable qualities, one enters the market and trades them for other valuable qualities. If someone has good and bad qualities simultaneously, one makes an analysis and sees whether the trade-off is worth it.

That’s the tragedy. Those who are born with certain sets of qualities will never be loved.

And those who can participate in trading, but suffer a temporal “economical crisis”, say, a depression, will quickly lose their valuable qualities. As with, say, a factory, the investors will wait for repairs, but not for too long.
Fall in a pit too deep for too long, and you will find nobody to pull you out after a while.

You can brainwash someone to believe anything if they’re young enough, unfortunately.

There is no such thing as a rational person. Ratio alone cannot have goals, make decisions. Every person is driven by emotion.

People are complicated and every time I think I learn something about them, they do something that confounds me.

Also, everyone is different and everyone’s the same. And that’s part of why people are interesting.

As far as social anxieties are concerned:

The other person is as afraid of you as you are of him/her.
And: people do seldom watch your qualities precisely. People watch their own qualities, trying to be as interesting as possible.
They are so busy monitoring and controlling themselves that most of the things you do that you find insufficient, awkward of failed are perceived as completely normal.

The last sentence is no green card for making World of Warcraft jokes in a mainstream public.

People can be amazing creatures sometimes.

Pretentious people have a lot more energy than I have because to do that takes a lot of work. Why bother?
People who are grinning all the time are often depressed.
People who appear wealthy are sometimes broke and tortured about it.
Most people have a cross they’re bearing (like I am since I’ve had so much tequila I’m seeing double)
Those who rave too much about their s/o are often ready to make a change.
The strongest “Christians” are often big fat sinners. lol
Many televangelists who say , “the prosperity gospel is false” secretly feel happier when the bucks are rolling in.
Too intoxicated to continue…...

(Be prepared, my viewpoint on human nature is slightly skewed) I look at humans the same way I look at an ant colony. Just as an experiment & to give you a better idea of how I see things, when you are out & about – just stop. For a moment. Now imagine you are 200 feet above it all. Look down at everything. What are people doing? Why are they doing it? What are you doing? Does it really matter? I first started seeing humanity this way back when I was really young. There were a couple small ant hills in the backyard & I would walk by & see what they were doing. Later that day, I helped my parents chop firewood & move it from the front yard, to the backyard. It was then, that I stopped for a moment. Imagined I was up high, looking down on my mom, dad & me, hauling wood from one place to another & realized…we are the ants. We exist for the same reasons ants do. It’s a somewhat humbling mentality & doesn’t exactly promote enthusiasm in one’s daily activities, but I get by. Having this viewpoint, I am somewhat less sympathetic towards people. I am not a robot, I do have feelings & I ache for when bad things happen to people. But it is because of each & every persons unique individuality that makes it painful when we lose someone. When you watch animal planet & there is a herd of 500 identical looking antelope & just one gets caught by the lion. It doesn’t really feel like an impact or major loss. But with people, because everyone is different (hair, clothes, color, personality), it feels like a bigger loss. I am not a cold hearted person, really. I just have a hard time putting humans above all else. I place us on the same level as all other things on the planet. I do care about people, but it just takes a bit more effort. Hopefully this makes sense to you, for I have never tried to explain or express my viewpoint before, so it’s difficult putting it into words. Sorry for making it so long. Now get back to work – the ant colony needs you.

@Aster loll…well, you made a lot of sense to inebriated! Enjoy!

I had to put a lot of effort into it. I am really very intoxicated, boo.
I am not used to this. I hope I live through it.

Reading so many awful things people to do each other, I daresay humans aren’t always human.

I wonder if there is any truth to my ex’s belief: “success is seeing your friends fail.” Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me that.
I have a joke my dad used to tell but it’s R rated so I won’t.

I think most people, myself included, place too high a value on good looks.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard That’s a whole different word. You just described irrational not crazy! :) :)

There is no such thing as human nature.

He who eats spaghetti and meatballs, shits yo-yo’s.

Expectations of how you think other people should behave to you will screw you up.

Everyone is wrong, some people are little less wrong.

P.S. This is why life is fun :)

Edit: Everyone is wrong, sometimes some people are little less wrong.

it’s a myth.

People have the potential for good and evil.

At every moment, each one of us is doing our best.

Humans want acceptance (to varying internal/external degrees).

-People are never as bad as you think nor as good.
-For every 50 good people out there there is 1 bad one.
-Most people just want to belong (which is why shunning is such an effective social tool).
-Most people will offer help if you ask for it. Too many people never ask. A small number always ask.

What @marinelife and @syz said.

I’m fascinated by the simple realization that comes from discovering what we have in common on a global scale. Such as if you were to slap or spit on anyone around the world, you would generally get the same response. That and on a higher note, generally everyone man and woman and child, is peaceful, I think the majority of people are peaceful and live and let live. Maybe Im naive to think that, but I feel that could be true. There are a lot of misconceptions about the world and where we’re all heading, I think maybe there is too many people, and too much greed. There is a large group of mainstream populous that is detached from their connection with nature. This allows the destruction of nature. If only we could control the population. Many may agree that we dont need more people.

Humans fear what they don’t understand.

I think my take on human nature can be summed up in the first two answers here:
5 people have given @marinelife a “great answer” for thinking people are basically good.
4 people have given @syz a “great answer” for thinking that people suck.
The world is pretty much split exactly the same way and my hope is that those who think people are basically good will always outweigh those who think people suck.