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[Megalosaro]

I work in logistics and speak with people across the country. One of my favorite agents is this lady that works in Atlanta. Wonderfully kind lady. Very sweet. Woman is practically a saint. I want her to be my grandmother.

Turns out she is a huge racist. I won't lie, my opinion of her has gone down since finding out this information. But everything else aside, she seems like a fantastic person.

Can someone with an absolute toxic opinion be a good person? Say for example there is a person who works in charity. Does a ton of good for the community. But is a holocaust denier. Can they still be a considered a "good"? I see comments like "I can't wait for old people to die off, so their racist generation is gone" on forums all the time, but is this really fair?

 

[esms]

Nope, at least to me.

 

[Dead]

No

 

[Bold One]

...NO

 

[Pai Pai Master]

no because being accepting of other people despite their differences is a core value of a good person.

 

[delta25]

well, I sure did love this guy.

 

[jtb]

No.

I think one of the key qualities behind any "good" person is empathy.

 

[ActuallyHulk]

I don't believe in good people, just ones that are less bad than others.

 

[NumberTwo]

Empathy is an essential part of being a good person. No.

Edit: beaten.

 

[PhantomHound]

Depends on the level of racism i think. Well at least personally for me.

My grandpa was really nice to everyone, but he made some off color remarks in the past. It was just part of his upbringing and social situations growing up in the past. He never hurt anyone, but he was pretty racist against Japanese people because of world war 2.

 

[TacticalFox88]

hahahahahaha


No.

LOL

FUCK NO

 

[Order]

Fuck no

 

[RoboPlato]

I consider good people to be ones who have empathy and care for others so no, absolutely not.

 

[Poodlestrike]

On the net? Yeah, sure.

 

[Megalosaro]

Empathy is an essential part of being a good person. No.

Edit: beaten.

Just because they're racist they aren't empathetic though? I'm not entirely sure that is true.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Yes? Insofar as you can be a better person in many ways than someone whose only credit could be "yeah, I don't hate you because of your skin."

I don't think "good people" can ever be declared. Everyone has good and bad aspects; some of the most horrifying people can be exceptional in other ways. There was an article just recently about how the BTK Killer was a good dad who raised two great kids... but he also murdered innocent families. People can be stunningly contrary in those ways.

I think the best thing you can do is decide for yourself what you value most in a person, and recognize people's capacities for change.

 

[Zantetsuken]

How can you possibly be?

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Is this a "bear shits in the woods" thing? Like if you don't hear it or see the impact of that person's racism, you're okay with it?

 

[Necromanti]

It depends on how one defines something as subjective as "good", so I don't see why not. To me, it's a term that doesn't really say anything substantive, so it's not useful. I try to view people within the context of their environments to understand them, independent of my own moral judgment. Some people are products more reflective of those environments they were raised within.

 

[BlackGoku03]

Yes.

Spoiler

To their own race.

/End thread

 

[injurai]

I don't believe in good people, just ones that are less bad than others.

I'm going to agree with this. I think people giving a solid no lack understanding as to why people develop such gulfs of misunderstandings with people that are different than themselves.

 

[UrbanRats]

I don't think "racist" is an on and off switch like some people seem to think.
You can be a largely non-racist person, and still hold (consciously or subconsciously) some more or less minor racist beliefs or prejudices.
You can also hold racist attitudes as a legacy of your upbringing, but working toward changing them, which is not the same as having racist attitudes and holding on to them through various mental gymnastics.

Defining what is or isn't a "good person" is even more complicated and abstract so, really, a pointless question when asked like that.

Racism is always bad, and whether or not you are generally a loving and altruistic person, any racist action or thought you take or have, is a bad thing that you should work toward fixing.
Though it's not always simple.

 

[Ovid]

Absoultely not.

Hate is not a virtue, therefore, they cannot be considered a good person.

 

[Saintguine]

A racist person can have good qualities and be considered a "good person" in spite of their racism. I've interacted with a few racist people who were prejudiced against my race but they were fairly pleasant in spite of their racist beliefs, though obviously I feel this is a minority in terms of racists.

 

[Agnostic]

Yes

 

[m_shortpants]

I don't think goodness is black and white (no pun intended, seriously), but I wouldn't consider a racist to be a good person IMO.

 

[norm9]

Yes, but all descriptions of said good person would end with, and they're racist.

 

[Fracas]

As much as it kills me to say it, yes. Though there's a star next to it.

 

[Floridian]

Not to me.

 

[diaspora]

I don't believe in good people, just ones that are less bad than others.

I agree.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

Plenty of great historical figures were great people, and were racist. Everyone has their blind spots. Some are more massive than others, but we've all got to deal with them, and they all basically arise from pretty universal flaws in how the human mind works. Any person, when put under the right circumstances, could have grown up to be a racist.

Basically, there but for the grace of God, go I.

 

[DBT85]

All depends on if you believe people can change. Is someone a racist forever, or a homophobe forever?

 

[The Technomancer]

Describing a person as a racist is a tricky thing for me. For one thing, pretty much everyone has racist tendencies of one form or another, and many people who don't explicitly believe they hold racist views will still defend racist institutions that benefit them

The vague, case by case line I try and draw between when a person just exhibits racist attitudes and when a person is "a racist" is when their racist attitudes begin to form a significant part of their ideology or worldview

At that point no, I don't think they can really be a "good person". But then...I'm also not really comfortable with the idea of "good person" so...who knows

 

[badblue]

You can be nice, polite, and do a ton of good volunteer work in the community and still be a horrible person.

 

[Ephemeris]

As much as it kills me to say it, yes. Though there's a star next to it.

It may not be the popular answer, but it's the right one.

 

[Kajigger]

Yeah of course. It's just one thing that they are not particularly up to date with. But other than that they can be really good people.

For example: They could think all Hispanic people are lazy asshole, but still give one a job.

 

[Kraftwerk]

Hitler helped a lot of people, pushed forward a lot of new advances in technology and science, and was a swell guy according to his friends and people who came in contact with him. According to his secretary, he was an amazing and relaxed boss.

Someone, at some point in time has uttered these words "I wish he was my grandfather"

<3

 

[RELIGHT]

Situationally. Just as long as the other person is the same race

 

[Astral Dog]

Could be considered, that she is less worse than other people.
My mother is kinda homophonic, racist, dismissive of people with less money than her, but i never, never would say that she is a bad person, everybody has their flaws, some more than others.

 

[esms]

Just because they're racist they aren't empathetic though? I'm not entirely sure that is true.

Different races have different life experience based solely on their race. Empathy is key in trying to understand those experiences.

 

[Hexa]

What does good person even mean?

If you're just talking about whether you can consider them overall ethical, then yes from I'd say any system of ethics. No one is perfect. The good can balance out the bad.

 

[Marauder Shields]

Sure why not.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

what is your definition of a good person? Your asking fundamental questions about philosophy and what defines good?

I doubt your really going to get a good discussion here, but read up on ethics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics

There are Virtue Ethics
Deontology
Consequentialism
Pragmatism

All approach the question differently. Some say yes (I think you can make the case that consequentialism could define the person as good if their racist ideas don't negatively affect others and their good works do help people) some say no (Deontology and Cirtue Ethics hold an abstract view of good that's likely to say holding bad views is a negative and denies a person from being good)

 

[Barrylocke]

Can I look at the things a racist does, look at the things a non racist does, and potentially make the judgement that the racist is better in my eyes?

Yes, its possible.

So it depends on what I need to think of a person as good. I havent exactly made hard and fast rules for this in my head yet.

 

[Timeaisis]

"Goodness" is a spectrum. We all have character flaws. Racism is a bigger flaw, but it's still a flaw like all the others. I hope people consider me a good person even though I have some bad tendencies and character flaws. It's the overall package that counts. A pathological liar, for example, could be considered a good person even though they lie all the time, depending on how much "good" they are perceived to be. One character flaw doesn't automatically negate all the good aspects of a person.

So, yes. A racist can still be considered a good person to some people, depending on the extent of their racism and the extent of their other "good" qualities.

 

[tokkun]

What if you only held complimentary racist beliefs? Like Asians being good at math or Black people being good dancers or Italians being good cooks?

 

[bobawesome]

Yes. I don't believe you should write someone completely off for being racist. I still believe my grandparents were great people but their ignorant beliefs were a product of time and place.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

I work in logistics and speak with people across the country. One of my favorite agents is this lady that works in Atlanta. Wonderfully kind lady. Very sweet. Woman is practically a saint. I want her to be my grandmother.

Turns out she is a huge racist. I won't lie, my opinion of her has gone down since finding out this information. But everything else aside, she seems like a fantastic person.

Can someone with an absolute toxic opinion be a good person? Say for example there is a person who works in charity. Does a ton of good for the community. But is a holocaust denier. Can they still be a considered a "good"? I see comments like "I can't wait for old people to die off, so their racist generation is gone" on forums all the time, but is this really fair?

what did she do that was racist?

 

[Beardz]

Prejudice = Racism

Everybody has prejudices

Everybody is bad

 

[Orbis Tabula]

edit: sorry, wrong thread.