Human Nature

So I was talking to Furry about post-apocalyptic movies, and about how I for some reason liked seeing the ugly side of human beings.  What they’re like when they’re scared and angry, what they’re like when the their conventions and societies are torn away.

This got me thinking as to whether I thought humans were inherently evil, or good. For a long time, I thought that they were just spread out over a bell-curve of morality, and credited their place on some event or influence in their lives that wasn’t really a factor in reality. Someone could say that they’re a criminal cos they grew up poor, but that would imply that everyone that grew up poor would be a criminal. Rather, I think they’re just inherently bad people, or unethical or something.

I still think this is true, but I think more credit should go to influences. A peaceful, happy society would have a bell curve resembling an easy test. For the most part, the majority of people are on the relatively good side, their are a few exceptionally amazing people, and a few evil. However under strong negative influences (post-apocalyptic, to refer to my original thought) people in general become more evil. Of course, even in there, there are SUPER bad people, but acting like a decent person is suddenly exceptional. I’d draw something out, but my laptop/tablet broke (right during the final stretch of school, ain’t I a lucky guy!) but I think you get the idea.