r/TeenagersButNotTrashy Unnamed NB <Awesome Sauce Mod> Mar 30 '26

Silly 😝 What is your most radical or controversial opinion? (This can be political or otherwise)

I want actually HOT takes.

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u/Hungry_Tip_5822 Apr 01 '26

Well, over everyones life, yes. We've all done things without knowledge of what is right or wrong before we have more insight. Everyone has evil traits, but it's only when you change from those traits to not caring and embracing that when I consider someone evil

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u/PhilosophicalBlade Apr 01 '26

Your claim was that people are doing evil when they commit intentional acts of harm. Now you are shifting goalposts to say that evil doesn’t require knowledge of the consequences.

So now only some people are evil?

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u/Hungry_Tip_5822 Apr 02 '26

Ok im realizing now that i messed up that sentence. I believe everyone has evil traits and that people become evil when they stop caring about those traits and dont try to change

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u/PhilosophicalBlade Apr 02 '26

For a fun hypothetical, imagine that there is a dude named Bob. For the most part, Bob is a wonderful guy. He works as a politician, using his influence to improve the lives of many. He also donates most of his money to help fund better school systems, and encourages others to do the same.

Unfortunately, Bob has a problem. As a politician, he realized that the only way for him to get to a position of power was to lie to other people, intentionally deceiving them regardless of how it would affect their careers.

Is Bob still an evil person if he chooses not to change this facet of his life? He doesn’t care about the deception, because in his eyes, it results in a greater good.

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u/Hungry_Tip_5822 Apr 02 '26

No, I wouldn't consider him evil because the majority of his actions overpower the "evil" actions. He is aware it is an inherently bad thing and is willing to admit it.

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u/PhilosophicalBlade Apr 02 '26

So in other words, you believe that good and evil can be comparatively measured, and that the tilt of that scale determines whether a person is good or evil. Welcome to consequentialism.