Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Are people inherently good or bad?

In the film Blood Diamond, the teacher, Benjamin has a conversation with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) about people. They discuss if people are inherently good or bad. What do you think? Are people born good and then become bad, or are we born bad and are taught to be good? Perhaps you have a different way of looking at things. Please share your opinion and thoughts.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a hard question but i think people are born bad and are taught to be good. We don't need to teach a child to be mean to their brother and they can be sometimes, we don't teach a child to lie and they do when they are afraid. When we see a little children doing bad things we can tell that everybody were born not good but the parents teach them how to be a good boy or girl. People can have a really good heart but they have to learn it! Elaine Santos

lax1268 said...

I agree with Benjamen statement that people are born inherently good. It is only the circumstance that influences a person to become bad or good. Environment is also a factor that make a person to become bad or good. Even how good the person is, if they are exposed to violence constantly the will surely become violent, and even how bad the person is, there is always good that had left inside his heart, that if show him love and goodness he would certainly response in the same way... Larry esl082-073

lax1268 said...

that if you show him love and goodness he would certainly response in the same way... correction from my last text...Larry

agoh said...

this question is an old universal question we will never finish to discuss about.from Socrate to rousseau it was the same question.some philosophs think,human is eniherently good but only the society and other people make him bad.some other philosophs think human is born bad and only the society and other people make him good.me I think any one of us is born good and bad a the same time.the society is simply the consequence of our human being.we are savage animals and thinking animals.we live and we exist.we hurt and we feel.that is our true nature.we are monsters.

Anonymous said...

I think that people born to be good and became bad.For example ,like those children who was taken by the rebels.They were good boys when they were living with their parents.Since the rebels have taught them to kill people, and used the drugs, those boys became bad.They killed everyone.Even they saw their parents, they said that it was their enemies, and they wanted to kill.This is from Haova.

roho said...

rogelio:
i agree with agoh, we were born bad and good. We are like the jing jang because our soul has a black part and a white part. for example the black part is the envy and the white parte is the love. however Elaine santos is right too because parents are teachers for us. whole the children in the world act like their parents, coping whatever parents do. and if they show their children to kill they will.

Unknown said...

I think people are born neither good nor bad. They are like a blank page. Children take their first few lessons from their parents. They learn how to behave and how to live. Next teachers are people who surround them. If those people are bad, kids will probably be ill-natured. usually when children are surrounded by good people (they have good examples of behavior) they won't be bad in te future.

mayra said...

I think we were born good because God has given to everyone a heart in order to fill it with love and good feelings, but in this world sometimes situations makes people became bad, we have an example in the movie blood diamond the little boy who was raised with good customs, but he became bad because the rebels taught him bad habits.

Anonymous said...

well , i think that we are born good and our parents are the ones that have to teach us the customs and the culture to be a good person .But, there´s one thing that is true and is that the influence of a person is very imprtant because sometimes a friend or somebody can be a bad influence for us everything depends in how our parents had been teaching us the customs to be a good person.

Anonymous said...

Thinking about a couple people that i know make me say that people come good to this world and the enviroment and certain situations make them to become bad.
Nadia Volquez 082-073

maria g said...

I'm agree with Mayra says, all people born good because God gives a soul and a heart to every one to be fill with love, good feelings and compassion for others... But as soon as we get into real life we have to make the decision between being good or bad, even if our parents taught us good manners and educated us with love as we saw it in the film with Salomon's son, when society becomes bad and corrupted and people get involved in this corruption, they become in bad people by forced... In this case people don't have other chance... But when you have the opportunity to chose by yourself about being good or bad is when you have to think in what your parents and your family always taught you and try to be good and don't let other people and the society influenced your good feelings.

marilyn said...

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marilyn said...

i think that everybody has something good and something bad .Our parents always teach us good things but we also learn a lot of bad things during our lifes.I think that the human being learn everything but circunstances of life make us forget the good things that we have learned and make us act in a bad way.

Jose Herrera said...

When people are born, they are innocent, pure heart, they can't distinguish what is good or bad. It's up to people to stay that way or become bad; however, I would say that circumstances definitely play an important roll in one person's life. When you're a good person, you find easily an excuse to become bad. On the contrary, if you are bad, it's hard to find a reason to turn into a good person.

Baldo said...

i think
every body born with same characteristics, but with the time each one adopt a behaviour different. That depend of the parents, the friends, the society. The boy in the movie change to much, because the people with he was living were terrorists, and they taught him bad things. A person can do to learn waht is good and what is bad ... with the experience.

Anonymous said...

well somthimes its the way we are rais by our parents but dipending what maners they teach us. olso our friends are a big influence a lot.

Anonymous said...

from Armando i believe people were good, because of the surrounders, they probably tuurn them bad. a child is like memory ,they do what they had seen. problems, whats happening,action. so my opinion is people was born good.

Anonymous said...

I think people was inherently good ,different from Elaine Santos I also think that the sociaty that is surround us make kids lie or be mean they saw it somewhere they heard it, they learned it and then they do it.
Verusca`Reis

JUSTYNA said...

Iam Catholic and I belive that God made all of us a good people.Than our parents should show us the right way to keep our good behaviour. They are the first one who create our characters. If we have love and respect in our home we will give the same to the other people.

Carmen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carmen said...

ESL 082 - 072
I think when a people born, his her life starts as a blank sheet. It will start filling with own, but mainly with learned behaviors from parents, friends, school, society in general, inside a peaceful or violent environment. However, onle when he/she had gotten a mature age, will be able to distinguish and decide what is good or bad.

Anonymous said...

No body knows how or when a person becomes bad or good. Some times you are in a situation that makes you to do things that are not acceptable, but you have no choose. A person who grows up surrounded for bad people, in a future can be an excellent person or the contrary a person who goes at the best school and have the best education can be the worst person in the world.Diana

M.Beverley said...

It is said that children live what they learn. Whatever you teach a child that's what he or she is going to live, and if they divert its because they allow other circumstances or people to influence them otherwise.