What is your Prevailing World View?

[Sega DogTagz]

Well Now

I’ve been looking for a responsible way to use the poll function for a while now. Not just one that bubbles down into a flame war with nothing behind it but a few anonymous votes, but a responsible one that is open to intellectual discussion.

Knowing me, I’m sure that you can assume that the topic I chose is highly controversial.

Humanity. is it good, or bad.

A simple question that has riddled the halls of learning for many centuries. A completely subjective alteration of the “Half full – Half empty” question that has no real answer. Still, I am curious to know what some of you guys think of the debate.

I think that understanding how each of us views the world is the first step to reconciling our differences. The more we can see of how each person is impacted by the world, the sooner we can develop real solutions to fixing it.

Anyone is free to vote, but I implore those that do so, to in turn add something constructive to the argument if you can. This topic is more about the discussion behind the idea, the poll is just a running tally if you will.

Please keep this civil. Understand that other people have walked different paths than your own and can see similar situations in an entirely different light. I am very anxious to see a topic like this succeed and what can come of it. I shall hold my tongue on the issue for the moment, to allow someone else to make an opening statement. I would much rather see users post their own ideas before dissecting the ideas of others.

Edited March 22, 2009 by Sega DogTagz

[null]

If it was 10 years ago, I would have voted Optimistic, but today I vote Neutral based on this decade's events prior to 9/11. I wouldn't vote Pessimistic because the world has broken free from similar events before, and I wouldn't vote Indifferent because in about 2 years, these events are going to have an effect on me. I really can't contribute much to this thread, since I can't grasp the topic very well because I'm trying to isolate myself from the news and media as much as I can.

[Diogenes]

I'm an optimistic pessimist. Or perhaps a pessimistic optimist. I honestly believe humanity has the potential to do great things...I mean, we've gone from laying in the mud and staring at the stars to reaching out and touching them in an amazingly short time (on a geological timescale, that is). For every limitation of our comparatively fragile bodies, and of life itself, we've worked to find a solution using the one thing that sets us above every other creature on this planet. For every obstacle we find, we fight even harder to leave a mark on the cold and uncaring universe, to prove that something amazing happened on this tiny little speck of a planet.

But I worry we'll never get there. We've spent so many years, so many lives, sabotaging ourselves. So much hate, so much death, all for the purpose of dividing us further. It seems like it's as much in our nature to destroy as it is to create, and at some level every one of us is guilty of it. Despite all the progress this species has made, at every level it continues to eat away at itself, threatening to undo what we've done.

I don't believe we can ever rid ourselves of all the hate and greed and apathy completely, but then, I'm not sure we'd be better off if we did. The same passion and will with which we fight against each other fuels our fight for each other. It all depends on where we draw the lines; who is "us" and who is "them". As long as humans exist there will be people who will draw those lines between us. Our only choice is to keep fighting those lines, to erase them, and to stop seeing "them" and start seeing "us".

...perhaps I am more of an optimist after all...

[Sega DogTagz]

I would say I am a pretty strong pessimist. This is not to say that I’ve never seen great and glorious things, but rather an omission into what I think drives us as a species. I truly believe that it is our very will to survive, thrive and prosper that ultimately brings down humanity into the pits of negativity. Survival is a dark, gritty and cruel world that often has no room for sympathy or compassion. In the end I believe that life itself is survival. As such, morals such as these are left behind in favor of the policies of survival and the mechanisms we use to enforce them. If the world were to be approached as a game on a grand scale, the Winners would not those whom play by the socially established rules. Instead the Winners would be the ones whom wrote the rules, bent them, or otherwise cheated them.

I also believe that Positive does not equal Negative. More-so to say that the two sides do not cancel each other out. The longevity of a negative action dwarfs that of a positive one. It lasts longer, is more severe and has a deeper impact on the recipient than its counterpart act of kindness (or neutrality). Fewer Negative acts can undo the good on society provided by a majority of positive ones.

In the end I believe that anything that breaths and has to compete for resources cannot be a positive existence. There is always a breaking point where if the organism is to continue it must destroy its neighbor. Because existence is such a dynamic force, these breaking points are discovered for different individuals across the globe everyday, and everyday the end result is always the same. Negativity.

[Cyberblade]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm neutral, but I'm not an optimist or a pessimist. I'm realistic. I like to keep a positive attitude, but I realize full well that shit happens. Terrible people do terrible things and get away with them, while an innocent gets jailed for life. It's not a pretty world we live in, but it doesn't mean we have to look at it badly.

[Mick]

I know humanity could do a lot if we could put our minds to it, ya know make the world a better place to live. A lot of people in this world are really shit and it's going to be that way tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. Humanity is entirely capable of changing and going in a better direction, however it's going to take a lot of effort and a long time for that to happen. It's really the same old shit and I really can't see it changing. Perhaps it'll happen after my lifetime, since I won't see humanity heading down a better road. So I would say I'm a pessimist when it comes to the world and the human race.

[TitanFifty]

Having Lord of the Flies and 1984 as two of my favourite books kinda skews my world view into the negative. Or maybe I'm just a miserable teenage bastard

Either way, I lean slightly towards the negative. We're capable of great things, just we're all cunts inside

Edited March 22, 2009 by TitanFifty

[Eileanach]

Whilst I know that evil and bad things happen in the world not every single human being is inherently evil or bad. I can be quite cynical at times but that is just to mask the fact I am a big squishy optimist. I believe quite strongly that people are good or at least have good IN THEM and whether or not they use it is up to them.

I always look on the brighter side and think the glass is half full. I don't see the point in being a miserable person all the time, life is for living and enjoying, have an occasional sad once in a while and then just pick yourself up plaster a smile on your face and take the world head on. =D

[CapnCloudchaser]

I'm hopelessly optimistic.

I can't really stand being around people who are negative, cynical or pessimistic all the time.

[Mollfie]

I voted neutral, but I'm more realistic really. There are some awful people out there, and some awful things happen. But there are also lots of great people, and lots of great things happen. You can't have one without the other.

[BlueFox]

Right now I'm going to have to vote for Pessimist. I suppose just looking out onto the world as I feel right now just brings that up. However, overall I'll have to go with realist like Mollfie. I suppose it's just the ammount of bad stuff that's happening recently that's bringing me down. (I like to point out that I'm not usually that emo )

[CapnCloudchaser]

Okay. I'll add a bit more to it.

I think people take life too seriously. That is of course related to my own beliefs, but there are a lot of people that border on the negative side of life. Life is hard, it sucks, whatever. Us humans like to get offended at things, to feel defensive and personally attack one another, to think we are entitled to such and such, to be judgemental of others decisions out of our own insecurity. Ignorance leads to fear, fear lead to hate, hate leads to a lot of angry baby faces and mob mentality.

Too many people have knee-jerk reactions to innocent things, we don't always try to understand why people act in a certain way or believe a certain thing. We're socialised to think certain things, like murder is wrong, but it's okay to murder the ones that murder. I'm not perfect though, I get judgemental about judgemental people, I get angry at angry people, I'm a hypocrite, so what?

But.. I believe in the potential that humans can strive for, and that some people do. Without socialisation we are little more than animals, but it's our current level of socialisation that makes us all idiots too. But we can go beyond that, and that's why I have faith in humanity.

I never understand the phrase "Lose all faith in humanity" because if you are human, but you know you believe and act in a certain way, then you have faith in yourself, correct? The people within your immediate range may be idiots, but the world is a big place, there will always be at least one another that feels the same way as you.

I don't understand the phrase "That person is inhuman" either because humanity has a wide spectrum. Humans are capable of atrocious crimes, but there are usually reasons why. We're selfish social animals, acting that way is pretty human. But rising above it is also human. These are all things we need to face whilst understanding our 'humanity'. Being human is much more than just having a moral system.

But I'm rambling now.

I used to be pretty angsty when I was younger. I hated people, hated what they did to each other. Why would we treat each other like crap? And I distanced myself from people. But then I realised I didn't hate people at all, in fact I loved them. If I hated people, then shouldn't I be happy that we were treating each other like crap? More so, I decided to give people a break. We all have bad days and reasons why we do things, we all have insecurities that we must face, we're all scared of something or other that causes us to react in certain ways, we all feel things. We all fuck up, sometimes really badly. Give humans a break!

Edited March 22, 2009 by CapnCloudchaser

[goodone121]

I am an optimist. I believe, with competent leadership ,strong initiative, and faith in others, we can overcome any challenge. We can turn this economy around. (We will not be able to if this centralization continues, however.) We can vote our communists, including Barry Soetoro, out of office. We will be able to push descisions to the free market (AKA the people ). Again, though, this will need leadership, initiative, and trust. Only then can we be successful.

[DMNBT]

I voted pessimist. Now, I'm pretty certain that humanity is capable of wonderful things, no need to remind me that. However, the problem lies in that it's too easy for someone to "go bad", I saw this way too much at school, where one bad day was all that was needed for people to become bad. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a problem if a very good day changed them right back, no? Unfortunately, that's not how it works.

[Kevin]

My views on Humanity are mixed. While Humanity does a lot of facepalmable things, I believe there is also good in Humanity as well. Both sides exist. It's a fact of life and human nature also comes into play as well.

[Diogenes]

Survival is a dark, gritty and cruel world that often has no room for sympathy or compassion.

But here's the thing, cooperation is a long-standing and time-tested method for survival. A group that works together to survive is more powerful than a bunch of loners competing with each other. A group can take down larger/more prey than a loner, one person's excess can be given to someone who doesn't have enough, and if one person threatens to destroy the group, the group can decide to exile them, jail them, kill them, etc, to preserve the rest of itself. This species' ability to work together is one of the biggest reasons it hasn't died out already, and I don't believe it's something that should be underestimated.

[pooshoes]

As the majority of humanity is not responsible for ills that plague our species, I am, on the whole, very positive. As soon as we remove the bad elements of humanity (politicians, international bankers, people who talk at the theatre), we can actually move forward as a single race and reach out towards the stars.

Edited March 22, 2009 by Pooshoes

[turbojet]

My teacher makes us do world views every other week. So I'm going to start posting them(I forgot to save them on the computer) so it might take awhile.

[Flyboy Fox]

I'm neither an optimist nor a pessimist. But I am a cynic. I'm able to be cautiously optimistic, but I always ground myself with the possibility of the worst outcome. I guess my world view is probably closest to realist/neutral, but I'm probably more cynical than the average realist and tend to lean towards a negative outlook, even while maintaining hope. I'm not quite sure what that makes me.

On the other hand, I'm also something of a surrealist

[BaronSFel001]

As Elim Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) once said, "I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me to expect the worst."

[Sega DogTagz]

I am a big squishy optimist.

Don’t exactly know where that came from, but it made me laugh.

But here's the thing, cooperation is a long-standing and time-tested method for survival. A group that works together to survive is more powerful than a bunch of loners competing with each other. A group can take down larger/more prey than a loner, one person's excess can be given to someone who doesn't have enough, and if one person threatens to destroy the group, the group can decide to exile them, jail them, kill them, etc, to preserve the rest of itself. This species' ability to work together is one of the biggest reasons it hasn't died out already, and I don't believe it's something that should be underestimated.

True. But social order can lead to another type of ruination. The breaking point perspective shifts from an individual, to a community level. It would be unwise to doubt the potential of cooperation but at the same time we must realize that no such cooperation can last forever. Eventually, the society will have to act in defense of itself and at the cost of outsiders (exile/murder of others) and eventually, when the new breaking point is reached, the society will break down into a catastrophic failure. No partnership can last forever. Your right that we always have to acknowledge the successes of cooperation, but I always try to ground them with the long-term inevitabilities.

I do like what CapnCloudChaser had to say in this issue.

But.. I believe in the potential that humans can strive for, and that some people do. Without socialisation we are little more than animals, but it's our current level of socialisation that makes us all idiots too. But we can go beyond that, and that's why I have faith in humanity.

Behold! My negative spin on his positive statement.

[Aoi]

I'm so gray matter, there was no doubt I was going to vote neutral. I've seen humanity at its best with kind, caring, and thoughtful people of all ages lending a hand. But I've seen the competitive, loud, selfish, and underhanded underbelly of humanity as well.

Life is too complicated to choose a side in my opinion.

[Meow]

I'd say I'm a pessimist. There are times where I want to try and be an optimist, but then I always go back to being negative. Can't explain why, I just find myself more inclined to be negative over a lot of things. Doesn't mean I'm angry all the time though =). I just usually see the worst in things and just accept that. I vent most of my frustrations out through music anyway, so maybe that helps.

[123654]

Neutral. Sometimes, bad things happen and there's nothing we can do about it, but there's almost always a bright side and almost always a time when we can escape the negativity and be happy.

But speaking strictly of the human race and not the world as a whole, I'm pessimistic. I see humans as the dumbest living things because we tend to be so arrogant and deluded.

[Nacho]

I'm totally negative and I don't care what other people say. The amount of BS, stupidity and horrible things that happen in the world is on a rapid incline and as far as teens I see here in the states my god are they dumb asses. I know for a fact that I'm pretty much a douche bag as I'm not scared to speak my mind about anything. If you ask me "does this make me look fat" I replay "do you REALLY want me to answer that question?" Telling people what they want to hear is not me. I HATE HATE HATE trying to make someone feel good about themselves when they have a problem. They need to hear what they NEED to hear. Everyone seems to be on this huge lie incline as well, faking internet lives, poon and starting whole lives on MMOs while dodging real life all together because it sucks and it's not fantastic enough for one to stand. I mean seriously, people go out and kill themselves for getting grounded for 2 weeks from their PC or not being able to play their Wii and I'm like SERIOUSLY?! I want to feel like I understand people but when i finally come to terms with it, most people I meet are fucking dumbasses who sit with their thumbs up their asses waiting for good stuff to happen, expecting to land the most beautiful woman on the planet when they're 400 pounds weight-wise, and waiting for the movie to a book everyone else says is fucking amazing because you don't like to read.

I'm seriously happy in the "world" I live in. I have great times with women. I read great books and try to expand my knowledge of something if proven wrong. I see bullshit coming and know how to step out of the way and I see good things coming and know how to grab for it. I can't wait for something to happen as waiting gets you practically no where. I chase a realistic dream that makes me truly happy. Lastly I don't go do anything because all the other guys/gals are doing it as I have a lot of respect for myself and for who I am and will not be moved by someone who is an obvious dumbass who thinks he/she is "cool" cause when you take the time to listen to them talk and watch them think, you'd be amazed at how fucking dumb they are.

That's why I'm a pessimist and until I see more genuine non dumbass people, I know for sure, that this world even with all the great people/things in it, is going to crap.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Vandroiy