Alone in the Blogosphere

Dear internet,

Today I wanted to talk about bad things (mostly in numbered lists), but first I recall the words of the great ethicist Latarian Milton (at 0:48):



You know how they say Socrates was wise because he admitted to knowing nothing - there's a quote behind it, but I'm not sure on the exact phrasing. Well could we also say, "I consider myself a good person because I know I do bad things?" A tenet of Roman Catholic ethics perhaps, but I also think a majority of people might accept this idea. Maybe this is obvious, but try it:

1) I think most anyone considers him/herself to be a good person,
2) I think one would probably consider most other people to be good people, and
3) I think generally when we call someone "bad" it is because we assume they don't consider their actions to be bad, and so we know they will keep doing them.

Now it probably isn't really fair to call anyone a bad person, especially after determining that the only reason I would do so is because they have different morals from me, but it certainly helps me in deciding with whom I want to spend my time. In trying to be a "good person" myself though I have some problems.

1) I know I have done bad things - particularly said things I'd like to take back - but apologizing for things just seems so Alcoholics Anonymous, you know? Or maybe I just don't like doing it, okay? Also:
2) I often find its difficult to forget things that other people said that I thought were offensive. I wouldn't want them to remember the things I said though! Not that I hold a grudge at all, it's just easy to remember some of those things. Luckily Total Recall is just a few decades off.

There's no real resolution to this. I guess what I wanted to say is: you're all jerks and so am I.

Yours in EFK