Discussion about the earlier question, "Do we become what we despise?" has led me to a profound possibility. In all the examples people have discussed, it seems like people only become what they despise when the thing they despise is "bad". That is, if you hate snobs then you become a snob; if you hate unfairness, then you become unfair.
However, people who hate "good" things don't become them. If you hate kindness you aren't likely to be kind. If you hate books you aren't likely to become an author.
Here's the profound part! Maybe we can define "bad" as the property such that when a person despises something "bad" they become like what they despise. "Good" is therefore the opposite: the property such that when a person despises something "good" they become the opposite of what they despise.
Please provide any ready counter-examples.
It's all a matter of connotations. No one despises that which he/she considers good. You'll never hear anyone admit out loud to despising "kindness." I might despise a certain behavior that you perceive as kindness, but which I perceive as something else, e.g., phoniness, obsequiousness, or what-not. To you, I might end up looking unkind, not because I became what I hated, but because I went out of my way to avoid becoming something you like. To people who think like me, I became more genuine, grew a spine, etc.
Come on, Doctor. Just because it sounds logical doesn't make it so. You have not stumbled upon some profound truth here, you've found a way to eat up two posts on your blog when you failed to read the news and neglected to post something worth reading. Oh! and then I came here; read the tripe, and actually commented! I was sucked in! Oh! Oh!
Dallas: I'm sorry I "failed" to post about the Academy Awards or whatever other nonsense you think is so important that I have some responsibility to comment on it.
X: Right, people don't despise what they consider "good", but I'm talking about reaching a general consensus on what "good" and "bad" mean. By observing whether or not people who hate certain things become like the things they hate, we can potentially come up with objective definitions for "good" and "bad"!
On the contrary, the academy awards is about the last thing I'd expect you to spend a lot of time on. Perhaps I was too sarcastic, and didn't come across playfull enough. Sorry.
Anyway, you're barking up the wrong tree. We agree that there is such a thing as objective truth. How are you going to derive objective truth from subjective reality? What people decide in their own minds to 'hate' has little or nothing to do with objective reality.
Even if you could somehow collect a valid sample size of people's opinions, all you would be able to say is that people 'think' one thing or another in general. But what people 'think' is not objective truth.
Mors and values of a segment of society change with the times. So does 'good' and 'bad' from that segment's perspective. However, true 'good' and 'bad' never changes.
X: "You'll never hear anyone admit out loud to despising "kindness.""
I disagree. Some people view kindness as weakness, which they despise. I bet that this was nearly universal in militaristic societies, such as ancient Sparta, or WWII Japan.
MW: I don't know... your conclusion doesn't really ring true.
I despise hypocrites. And I think the energy derived from my extreme distaste for hypocrites helps me to be more aware of possible hypocrisy in my own thoughts and actions, and thus prevent such hypocrisy.
You might even say that any "bad" behavior or quality related to "carelessness" in thought or action would be *reduced* by the attention that is inherent in despising it. That is, by despising carelessness (or its cousins), you seem more likely to become careful rather than careless.
its so hard to label things as good or bad. Do you use the model society has told you of what is right or wrong? If we do not decide to follow what society deems acceptable what do we use to make our own assumptions about good and bad. Our world fails to satisfy the human demand that it provide a basis for human values, for our personal ideas and for our judgments of right and wrong. the Human condtion as Camus called it. To say we become what we hate if its "bad" and the opposite if what we despise is "good" depends completely on that persons own moral views since there is no absolute truth behind what is right and wrong. touchy subject
Zach: My whole point is that perhaps good and bad can be defined by whether or not you become what you hate. In that vein, I'm trying to get around the subjectivity that you complain about. Whether or not you become what you hate can be empirically tested and doesn't depend on anyone's moral views. You must have completely misunderstood what I wrote.
i didnt mean to sound so critical, i was just commenting my thoughts about it
Zach: No problem, maybe my writing wasn't that clear.