this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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Asklemmy

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[–] iii@mander.xyz 121 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Most people at their core are good people

[–] christian@lemmy.ml 34 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't remember where I read this quote originally and I can only paraphrase it, but observing people living in a capitalist society and concluding that human nature is self-centeredness and greed is equivalent to observing workers in a factory that is poisoning their lungs and concluding that human nature is to cough.

[–] Bademantel@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a nice quote, thank you. I looked into it. It's by Andrew Collier:

To look at people in capitalist society and conclude that human nature is egoism, is like looking at people in a factory where pollution is destroying their lungs and saying that it is human nature to cough.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Primary goal is to survive in the environment you are in, how many might have a desire to escape that environment but lack the ability to do so? Leave it all behind and live in a cabin in the woods isn't exactly an unheard of idea.

[–] Bademantel@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

The issue, as I see it, is that most people struggle to envision a society beyond capitalism. Capitalist ideology is embedded in every aspect of our lives. It appears in our mindset, in books, movies, and even in children's television shows. The narrative that anyone can succeed if they work hard enough, and that poverty is simply the result of laziness, is both powerful and pervasive.

The idea that everyone should live in isolated cabins is neither a realistic vision nor a desirable goal for society.

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[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Damn, ya beat me. I'm not good people to so I know from first hand experience.

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[–] will_a113@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago

I think β€œgood” and β€œbad” are hard terms to apply to people objectively, but I do believe that most people value social coherence and are willing to do (the minimum amount of) something to maintain it. If you can’t believe at least that it means that all of those thin blue line people are right, and I’m just not willing to believe that’s true.

[–] lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

I was gonna go with "most people give a damn", but I think you phrased it a bit more positively.

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[–] hactar42@lemmy.world 60 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Karma - there are way too many shitty people who just continue to be shitty because nothing ever comes back to bite them. Meanwhile, people who actually try to help are kicked around the most.

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 47 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Showing people irrefutable proof of something will change their minds.

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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 46 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That humans can survive the climate disaster they created.

[–] jared@mander.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago

It's ok the earth will survive.

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[–] will_a113@lemmy.ml 46 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

That our benevolent alien overlords are gonna show up aaaaaany minute now...

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Fucking seriously... I wish there were aliens that could save us from ourselves, but it's just oligarchs all the way down...

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[–] crime@hexbear.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I think Posadism is my answer too

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[–] kernelle@0d.gs 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Religion, mythology and probably anything mystical. It's very easy why people believe in them, they're so alluring and genuinely wish they had truth to them. Unfortunately the only truth to be found is ancient wisdom, and even that can be very iffy sometimes.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 11 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

you may be interested in mysticism then.

I've always held that the true purpose of religion is to create atheists, and not in the modern edge lord I reject your god way.

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago

U.S. democracy

[–] iSeth@lemmy.ml 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] Elaine@lemm.ee 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Reincarnation - I’d like to believe I’ve met others before, maybe even many times. It would explain some stuff like why you’re irrationally drawn or repelled by certain people.

[–] OmgItBurns@discuss.online 8 points 2 weeks ago

The thing that's always gotten me about reincarnation is the lack of memory of past lives. Even if it were true and some small part of a person lives on, is it functionally different than a permanent death if they retain nothing from their past lives?

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The notion that "facts matter".

I've spent my entire life believing that facts don't care about feelings. That scientific truth doesn't require your belief in it in order to be true. That at the end of the day, reasoning will beat emotion...

By far the most dis-heartening thing about the last few years (to me) has been accepting the idea they "facts" are "whatever is shouted the loudest".

It, more than anything else, makes me feel helpless. If the enemy isn't even playing with the same fact-sheet... How do you even begin to fight that?

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

I recommend reading False Witnesses and following it up with Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of "Brainwashing." People license themselves to believe what's convenient, not what's true.

[–] TC_209@hexbear.net 20 points 2 weeks ago

The revolutionary potential of the American people.

[–] woodenghost@hexbear.net 20 points 2 weeks ago

An afterlife. Might be nice.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 weeks ago

The average person having empathy

[–] forty2@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

The 'common' part of 'common sense'

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[–] Sickos@hexbear.net 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

My cat can understand everything I say but chooses not to listen

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I mean, there's real data to support this. If you don't believe it that's like me not believing that hurricanes exist just because I haven't been through one.

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[–] CapriciousDay@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hanlon's razor. It's pretty clear some people can be stupid and malicious simultaneously, or will even feign stupidity to hide malice.

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[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
[–] Sas@beehaw.org 10 points 2 weeks ago

Ghosts. My 18 year old cat passed end of last year and she was one of my best friends. I just wish that instead of me knowing that the shades of her I see are actively produced by my mind (i notice me doing them) that she'd really spook around me, that i could just embrace the little shade and show her that i still love her. Well now I'm crying at work

[–] TWB0109@lemmy.one 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The world will recognize the good deeds you do

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] crime@hexbear.net 9 points 2 weeks ago

Material conditions will improve in my lifetime

[–] RangerJosey@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Aliens visiting Earth.

I know it's a statistical impossibility that we're the only life out there. I just don't believe they've ever been here. Since we haven't been either conquered or uplifted yet.

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[–] hornywarthogfart@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That people are inherently good. This not being the case is reinforced near daily by people's behaviors.

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[–] RandomVideos@programming.dev 8 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Alice@beehaw.org 8 points 2 weeks ago

Heaven. Or just the idea that some part of the consciousness outlives the body. I really hate that this is all I get, there's so much I'll never get to do just because my parents decided when I was too young to decide for myself.

[–] multifariace@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

That rational and empirical evidence would cause people to reconsider their intuitive perspectives and lead into constructive conversation.

[–] drq@mastodon.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

@ParlaMint Afterlife.

Death is boring and awful. I don't want it. Nobody really wants it. If you think you do, a) get help and b) you really don't.

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[–] TommySalami@lemm.ee 7 points 2 weeks ago

There is a gospel passage about how much will be expected of those whom have been given much. I've always heard this interpreted as how church leaders will be judged harshly in the afterlife. I wish this and hell were true, just for the sheer shock and disbelief of all the hypocritical religious leaders who've done so many terrible things and continued to preach hate.

[–] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

That Democracy can be an effective check on Capitalism. Liberalism is my favorite fairy tale. If all the propaganda I was fed as a kid in the 90s was actually true, I'd be in paradise.

[–] winni@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

diskworld. I specially like the city watch

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

That life is fair.

That there's a place for the hopeless sinners who've betrayed all mankind just to serve their own beliefs.

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The world was ruled by the Illuminati and they were compassionate about it. Because what we are ruled by is a bunch of assholes.

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[–] TheGuyTM3@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

A thing beyond our understanding on this world, I wish that thoses humans on top of the world would understand at least once that they can't control everything, and that the world stays full of wonder.

I would have said also yōkais, but i actually believe in them so it doesn't count i suppose.

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