“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Sure, it could be. The answer isn’t ‘Bad Intentions’, Mr. Weirdo.
I don’t think I have ever heard anyone misinterpreted it as “The road to hell is paved with bad intentions”. Do you have anyone particular in mind?
It’s happened to me sporadically, online and off. Sometimes when I’d be referring to underfunded programs that are halfheartedly implemented, then fail. Or arguing over the intentions of Politicians, it’d be stated, by them, to indicate that the answer then would be ‘erasing the entire chalkboard’, and defending DOGE and cutting off aid, without any care… I suppose they may be thinking “It’s good we gave aid at all”, but to rip it all out, without a plan of keeping it independently alive in some way…, That’s cruel.
Just for clarification: You mean that they interpret “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions as meaning” as meaning “Never start anything with good intentions, because it’s guaranteed to be evil” (instead of “Don’t rely on your good intentions to guarantee good results - keep track of whether the results are good”)?
Color me too baffled at what the OP is trying to say. Their second post made even less sense than the first.
I’d like to understand what they’re thinking. But I cannot.
The same way some (most?) people use the word “do-gooder” to mean “misguided idealist” instead of “person who does good”?
Makes perfect sense to me. The old proverb says “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. Republicans, incorrectly, interpret this to mean “It’s bad to have good intentions, so you should instead have bad intentions”.
Yes, I more often hear conservatives using the phrase to speak out against programs to help the poor. The alternative of course is to “let the free market take care of the problem.”
Well, the free market, and upper-bracket tax cuts.
That sounds more like rationalization than interpretation. You know – like how they use a bronze-age book to justify what they’ve already decided.
Another misinterpretation I see is of “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing” - which means “Before you trust that trustworthy-seeming guy, check him out,” and not “All trustworthy-seeming people are out to get you, so you’re better off trusting the guy who is obviously a crook.”