Support NeoGAF

[Haunted]

"Everybody's darling is everybody's depp."

Spoiler

depp = fool, dork, shmoe etc.

When speaking about the market, work life or our capitalist western society in general, it does not value "niceness". It is a very selfish system. However, in personal life, in relationships, in the part of society that's about living together instead of competing with each other, niceness is a trait that should be valued and celebrated.

 

[XsomX]

So your friend is like an ex-convict or what?
It's normal. We all should be nice to each other. Because that's exactly when we can actually have nice things.

 

[jph139]

I mean, at the end of the day, he doesn't seem happy despite whatever metrics he defines as success, so he's probably losing out in the only real sense that matters - you've got like 80 years of life, no sense in burning through them miserably.

But on the other hand, it seems like it's been a pretty successful strategy in practical terms so, uhh, I dunno. No real moral lesson to derive here.

 

[Megalosaro]

That dude is your friend?

Dude would get booted off the friends list immediately for being such a prick lol.. Yes you should be nice and not a pushover. Can't be a bad thing to be a good human being.

I don't v consider him a friend anymore. I do have to live with him until I find a new place

 

[magnetic]

It´s people like your friend who love to live by the phrase "survival of the fittest".

The problem is that "fittest" doesn´t mean "the most agressive". Being adept at social situations is part of being "fit" in our society. It´s not the one who kills the most enemies, but who fits in well within his or her tribe, if you will.

Being nice and being a pushover are two very different things. You can be loveable, yet firm. You can be empathic, yet still know your worth.

He´s now realizing that being constantly agressive and competetive isn´t actually giving him every single thing he desires.

I´m glad I don´t live in his skewed, brutal view of the world. Sounds like he needs help, to be honest.

 

[Akronis]

Being nice and helping people is how I brought myself out of my depression years ago. It was therapeutic for me.

Being nice should be the default response for most things.

 

[grumble]

Honestly, he sounds like a dick. He also sounds like he understands one thing about society - sometimes being aggressive and confident will in fact pay dividends.

 

[highrider]

Your friend is wrong, but it's not hard to see how a young person can feel this way depending on life experience. Hopefully as time goes on he will see things differently.

In Roadhouse Patrick Swayze said, always be nice, until it's time not to be nice. I try to live by that. Life is hard enough, no need to be dicks to our fellow humans unless we have to be.