# I agree with Caligula: "Aren't people AWFUL?" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966 "2005-01-21T20:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/1 "2005-01-21T20:39:18Z")
> [@](#): > > BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide driver rammed an ambulance into a crowd of Shiites celebrating a wedding near Youssifiyah, a village 12 miles south of the capital. Seven people were killed and 16 wounded. How do people _do_ such things? I’m an historian, and all I see is one war, massacre, Inqusition, Crusade, dictatorship and invasion after another. Sure, there are a handful of nice people—I’m told George Clooney is kind to animals—but people as a whole? Evil, evil fuckers. I’m glad my life is more than half-over and I’ll be out of this mess soon. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/2 "2005-01-21T20:43:05Z")
I keep telling everybody that people are evil, stupid, pathetic beings. Does anyone ever listen? Nooooooooo. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/3 "2005-01-21T20:46:14Z")
I’ll have to paraphrase a couple of quotes from Terry Pratchett books: “There aren’t any good and evil people. They’re all evil, but some are on our side.” “Evil is seldom defeated by the good guy in the real world. Evil is defeated by another kind of evil, which is better organized.” Sums it up for me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/4 "2005-01-21T20:46:20Z")
Yesterday, I left my headlights on in the parking lot while I was at work. I got out of my car, and saw a guy walking to the back of the parking lot with a duffel bag. I assumed he was going to his car, and asked if he could give me a jump. Turns out he was actually taking a picture of some of the street art (i.e. grafitti) on the back wall, but said that he’d be happy to help me out when he was done. While I was waiting, though, the owner of the car next to me showed up, and without prompting, asked me if I needed a jumpstart. He’d seen my lights on when he parked that morning, and figured on having to help someone out later when he came back that evening. So some folks aren’t all that bad. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/5 "2005-01-21T20:46:25Z")
It is rather difficult to see the “goodness” of humanity when most of what is cited as good is merely a response to evil. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/6 "2005-01-21T20:47:17Z")
Again with the sunshine and rainbows, Pollyanna? I offer a quote from **Babylon 5** that might offer some consolation: > [@](#): > > “No regrets then?” > “A few. But just a few. You?” > "Oh, enough to fill a lifetime. So much has been lost, so much forgotten. So much pain, so much blood. And for what, I wonder. The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible inbetween. But there is still time to cease that one last fragile moment. To choose something better, to make a difference, as you say. And I intend to do just that. > > Centauri Emperor and Sheridan, _The Coming of Shadows_ ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/7 "2005-01-21T20:59:34Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Again with the sunshine and rainbows, Pollyanna? > > I offer a quote from **Babylon 5** that might offer some consolation: How exactly, and with no snarkiness intended, is a quote from a fictitious character concerning fictitious circumstance consolation for someone who is overwhelmed by the capacity and willingness of humans to inflict misery upon one another? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/8 "2005-01-21T21:00:20Z")
And another: > [@](#): > > “You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/9 "2005-01-21T21:05:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yesterday, I left my headlights on in the parking lot while I was at work. I got out of my car, and saw a guy walking to the back of the parking lot with a duffel bag. I assumed he was going to his car, and asked if he could give me a jump. Turns out he was actually taking a picture of some of the street art (i.e. grafitti) on the back wall, but said that he’d be happy to help me out when he was done. While I was waiting, though, the owner of the car next to me showed up, and without prompting, asked me if I needed a jumpstart. He’d seen my lights on when he parked that morning, and figured on having to help someone out later when he came back that evening. Yeah, then they both probably went home and stabbed their wives to death. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/10 "2005-01-21T21:04:56Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > How exactly, and with no snarkiness intended, is a quote from a fictitious character concerning fictitious circumstance consolation for someone who is overwhelmed by the capacity and willingness of humans to inflict misery upon one another? That’s art’s purpose–to hold up a funhouse mirror to reality, to console us in hard times through reminding us of the truths we’ve temporarily forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/11 "2005-01-21T21:08:08Z")
I bet he didn’t use his turn signal either, the jackass! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/12 "2005-01-21T21:16:29Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > That’s art’s purpose–to hold up a funhouse mirror to reality, to console us in hard times through reminding us of the truths we’ve temporarily forgotten. Well I respect your opinion and am all for art and all that (I even make a little art every now and then), but art is only truthful when it is. Sometimes it lies like a bitch. To think that some homily about “making a difference” reveals some truth about humanity that palliates the thousand horrors we see every day is to be pollyanish to the extreme, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/13 "2005-01-21T21:20:10Z")
And has anyone ever read _Pollyanna_? She was run over and crippled by a car at the end! Probably by some bastard in an SUV, on his cell phone, not using his turn signals. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/14 "2005-01-21T21:20:27Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Yeah, then they both probably went home and stabbed their wives to death. I believe our phrase that pays is actually: “Hacked to death with a kitchen knife” But thanks for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts for you. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/15 "2005-01-21T21:28:44Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Yeah, then they both probably went home and stabbed their wives to death. Tradition _is_ tradition, **Eve**. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/16 "2005-01-21T21:29:15Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Well I respect your opinion and am all for art and all that (I even make a little art every now and then), but art is only truthful when it is. Sometimes it lies like a bitch. To think that some homily about “making a difference” reveals some truth about humanity that palliates the thousand horrors we see every day is to be pollyanish to the extreme, IMO. Palliate horrors? Not possible. The dark is all around us, which is why keeping our small candle lit is important. Life is dangerous, and even on a tropical vacation, a tsunami can sweep you and your family away in an instant. Your kids can get cancer and die. Your parents can succumb to Alzheimer’s or strokes. I’ve seen a lot of horrors in my life. . . lost friends to AIDS, lost my dad when I was a kid, my mom’s crippled from bad hip surgery and is in danger of losing the marginal employment she has. . . my sister is in the hospital right now recovering from having her stomach removed. Life is chockfull of horrible, awful events. That’s why loving people and taking care of those around you is a shout of defiance at the workings of a hostile universe. And if you think that passage form B5 is just “some homily about ‘making a difference,’” I suggest that you watch it and learn how people deal with sorrow, loss, and the deaths of millions in a horrific war. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/17 "2005-01-21T21:32:16Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > And has anyone ever read _Pollyanna_? She was run over and crippled by a car at the end! > > Probably by some bastard in an SUV, on his cell phone, not using his turn signals. And smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/18 "2005-01-21T21:35:19Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Yeah, then they both probably went home and stabbed their wives to death. Maybe, but who gives a shit about them? I got where I was going. That’s what’s important. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/19 "2005-01-21T21:42:34Z")
Anyhoo, I’m starting to sound like a poster boy for optimism, and you know what that got Dr. Pangloss, so let the misanthropic rumpus continue! ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966/20 "2005-01-21T21:42:42Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > And if you think that passage form B5 is just “some homily about ‘making a difference,’” I suggest that you watch it and learn how people deal with sorrow, loss, and the deaths of millions in a horrific war. Well once again, with all due respect, I fail to see what lesson about life there is to be gleaned from a TV science fiction show. (Disclaimer–I don’t have television and have never seen the show.) I am reminded of a (probably apocryphal) remark from William James to his brother Henry when the latter complained about writer’s block. To wit: “Writer’s block? You\* make that stuff up\*. Every thing I write is _carved from the living rock of truth_.” How about you show me how people deal with sorrow, loss, and the deaths of millions _in the real world_, and then show me how that amounts to more than pissing in the wind. And then tell me how people deal with death of the heart. Please. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-agree-with-caligula-arent-people-awful/285966.md?page=2)