The majority of people are evil, even children

[suffering]

Sometimes I think that if I would get rich, I would adopt orphans children and take care of them. I suffered a lot as a child and I don't want other children to suffer like me. But then I wander how would I know that those children are good people? Sometimes I read the news and I can't believe the atrocities children can commit....... If I think about the children I used to go to school with, I think only a very small minority were the kind I would like to adopt. The rest of them were problematic or even wicked. How do you even interview a child to figure out if he/she is good or not?
Anyway I don't even know why I am thinking of this, I don't think I would ever have money to adopt.

 

[everydayiloveyou]

Children can't be evil, they can barely make coherent decisions. I think "evil" children are just products of their environment. It's not fair to blame them for that and treat them as if their personalities and behaviors are going to be permanent, because they can still learn, grow, heal, and change.

The issue is abusive adults. When I think about my own childhood, a lot of my issues in school were propogated by adults. They ignored my distress and fostered a negative environment, and that environment made us students feel overly competitive, cautious, judgemental, and mean. We were just kids, we were just doing as they were told. Kids depend on the adults who take care of them, so they desire their approval and behave accordingly. The adults could've done something in my situation but they didn't, and that's on them. Adults know when they're being selfish and horrible, they understand morality, and they have the capacity to consciously change, unlike a child, so why didn't they? I can't blame child me for bringing bad karma to myself by being a brat, and I can't blame my classmates for bullying me back then either. We didn't fully understand how we were behaving yet.

But I think your dream is very noble. If you can ever do this, remember that every child is pretty much a clean slate. By being loving and kind, you can give them a good upbringing and teach them to be good to others. Even a child who is initially "evil" can really change for the better in a supportive and loving home with a guardian who sets the right example. In the end a child just wants to be loved and taken care of. If you can give them that support, then you'll be giving them the whole world. They'll have the confidence to do great things and make the world a better place.

 

[pickajack]

Yes, we all have responsibility as adults to examine our own behavior, particularly when children are involved.

@everydayiloveyou , I'm sorry you had negative experiences brought on by decisions and behavior of adults in your life.

I've been considering painful aspects of my own childhood. I whether those unhelpful adults had similarly painful childhoods and are just replicating the treatment they endured.

 

[so tired or manic]

I want to give a child a better life than I was given, but then I remember I can barely take care of myself and I don't want to put that on a kid.

 

[Mr2005]

It seems evil to put this in recovery

 

[Deleted member 1465]

All people are ultimately expedient.

 

[KleinerWolf]

Children are not evil at birth, unless there's something wrong with their cognitive thinking, either congenital or through early brain development.
Children/people in general become evil throughout time due to the environment they grow up in, i.e people and circumstances they are exposed to.
Oftentimes they conformed to it subconsciously without knowing.

 

[Intheo]

I don't believe people are evil, in particular children. But we are all hardwired to be self-interested for survival in a competitive natural environment. Both the kindness and savagery of our species is a product of our evolution. Destructive behaviors are unfortunately more useful for survival though so that might be why we see it more often. Kindness and cooperation is only useful when used within a group to enhance the survivability of the group as a whole.
One problem is that there are too many groups that need our loyalty. our immediate family, local community, nation, the global community, the species, etc all encompass us but these elements are also in conflict. Things were a lot simpler when we only had to worry about our tribe of 50 people.

 

[AnxietyAttack44]

Yes. They are evil.

 

[Moonomyth]

Humanity is both very good and very bad. Kids aren't much different.

This information doesn't really help me much except to make solving trolley problems a lot easier.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

Evil children are just products of their environments and genetics, and they'll grow up to be evil adults. 'Evil' doesn't exist imo, it's all just cause and effect on a complicated human level. Rather than looking negatively at the whole world we should focus on the factors we can control to make it a more pleasant place.

 

[DeathIsTheWayOut99]

Children can't be evil, they can barely make coherent decisions. I think "evil" children are just products of their environment. It's not fair to blame them for that and treat them as if their personalities and behaviors are going to be permanent, because they can still learn, grow, heal, and change.

The issue is abusive adults. When I think about my own childhood, a lot of my issues in school were propogated by adults. They ignored my distress and fostered a negative environment, and that environment made us students feel overly competitive, cautious, judgemental, and mean. We were just kids, we were just doing as they were told. Kids depend on the adults who take care of them, so they desire their approval and behave accordingly. The adults could've done something in my situation but they didn't, and that's on them. Adults know when they're being selfish and horrible, they understand morality, and they have the capacity to consciously change, unlike a child, so why didn't they? I can't blame child me for bringing bad karma to myself by being a brat, and I can't blame my classmates for bullying me back then either. We didn't fully understand how we were behaving yet.

But I think your dream is very noble. If you can ever do this, remember that every child is pretty much a clean slate. By being loving and kind, you can give them a good upbringing and teach them to be good to others. Even a child who is initially "evil" can really change for the better in a supportive and loving home with a guardian who sets the right example. In the end a child just wants to be loved and taken care of. If you can give them that support, then you'll be giving them the whole world. They'll have the confidence to do great things and make the world a better place.

I agree. So many adults fail children and many fail to take responsibility too. Its a damn shame. Makes me not want to have kids in this shitty world
Speaking of which, it seems when it comes to child abuse people are so quick to blame and accuse the child and not point fingers at the parents. many of us are raised with the mindset to always love and value our parents, when the majority contains parents who are abusive.

 

[suffering]

I agree. So many adults fail children and many fail to take responsibility too. Its a damn shame. Makes me not want to have kids in this shitty world
Speaking of which, it seems when it comes to child abuse people are so quick to blame and accuse the child and not point fingers at the parents. many of us are raised with the mindset to always love and value our parents, when the majority contains parents who are abusive.

I definitely agree with you that society doesn't hold parents responsible and I hope my post didn't come across as ignorant in this matter. I come from an abusive family and I know what it means to have people side with the parents just because 'they are your parents'. Society's silence when it comes to morality is one of the things that made me lose my faith in mankind. Even more so, I'm antinatalist and I believe it is cruel to impose life on a soul.
I used to hold the view that if we fix parenting then we will have some sort of utopic society, that people are good or at least neutral when they are born and that it is family issues that turns a person bad. However, I have changed my mind. There is too much horror happening in the world, too much sadism. It can't be explained away so easily. As someone mentioned above, people are competing for limited resources, it's a very complex dynamic. I have seen how low people can get for money, even if they already have the basic necessities and even if it means taking it from people who need it more. Over and over. I should be used to it by now, but it still shocks me, probably because I'm incapable of such a thing and my mind has a hard time grasping it.
Plus, there are people who didn't turn bad although they were born in abusive backgrounds. My family was a nightmare, and yet I didn't become a bully. I remained compassionate. And whatever challenges I was left with, I always tried my best to address them, although there was never any positive parental figure in my life.

At the end of the day, regardless of the nature vs nurture debate, I think it is very risky to adopt without putting any effort in figuring out how the child behaves. (again, I have no idea why I even talk about this, I am almost a broke, adoption is not within my means, but it's a dream that I might do some good if I become wealthy). I think a good 'test' for children would be to observe how they treat animals. If they treat them with compassion, that is a good sign I think.

 

[lostangel]

As another user pointed out I think it's more a product of their environment but I don't think the majority of people are evil like as in hitler type evil but that they are selfish and treat others poorly.