Treating The Bad Guys Well The morally good thing to do or advancing their cause?

[Shahrukh 0]

I was wondering, treating everyone well is a good thing in all religions, cultures, sects, races, etc. etc.

But what about our behaviour with a bad guy?

 

What I could conclude was:

1. Being good with such a person may actually change him mentally. He may see things differently when we are nice even after his rude behaviour.

2. He may get more motivated. He will think that he has dominated the other person and can now talk to them in anyway he wants.

 

What do you think?

 

P.S. I understand that things are done differently with children to teach them. I am talking about grown-up, intelligent people.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I was wondering, treating everyone well is a good thing in all religions, cultures, sects, races, etc. etc.

But what about our behaviour with a bad guy?

 

What I could conclude was:

1. Being good with such a person may actually change him mentally. He may see things differently when we are nice even after his rude behaviour.

2. He may get more motivated. He will think that he has dominated the other person and can now talk to them in anyway he wants.

 

What do you think?

 

P.S. I understand that things are done differently with children to teach them. I am talking about grown-up, intelligent people.

 

Both of those are very possible conclusions.

 

I personally believe that you should be nice because I'm religious and at least with Christianity the view is that God should be the only one judging others -- by treating people badly due to their behaviors you are in essence judging them.

[magnafrost 0]

I was wondering, treating everyone well is a good thing in all religions, cultures, sects, races, etc. etc.

But what about our behaviour with a bad guy?

 

What I could conclude was:

1. Being good with such a person may actually change him mentally. He may see things differently when we are nice even after his rude behaviour.

2. He may get more motivated. He will think that he has dominated the other person and can now talk to them in anyway he wants.

 

What do you think?

 

P.S. I understand that things are done differently with children to teach them. I am talking about grown-up, intelligent people.

 

Nice Topic! And definitely not an easy one to answer. The shortest answer:- It depends on the subtleties. For instance, your behaviour towards him might fuel his actions. And I assume that by people you mean every day people like you and me, and not, say, a terrorist. For the terrorists, they would most often be too focused, maybe even brain-washed, to the extent of not letting our actions change their way. But for us, I believe we all need/have someone to shout at, to cry to, in essence a person whom you take maximum rights with. Most likely, the other person will be happy to be your sole vent, and accept it, and it'll eventually become option 2. But, if some of your not-so close friends were to do the same thing, it'll be option 1. What I'm trying to say is, if a person who you think will be bad to you when you are bad, is actually nice, it'll be option 1. But if a person who you think will be nice is too nice, it'll lead to option 2.

[web_designer 7]

very nice topic ahahrukh,for me i strongly believe in treating everyone nicely, and when i say EVERYONE, i mean exactly EVERYONE. even if i know that this guy is a bad one, or treated others badly but still i believe i should treating him nicely. why? because i know that, no one is born evil or a bad guy, but his circumstances, his community, feeling insecure, lack of family presence, lack of friends,lack of education...ect. all those are the main reasons of creating the bad guy. even when they always have a choice of becoming good or bad but still it is hard to make a good choice when everyone is judging that guy, avoid him, or treat him badly. therefor i believe that a nice word, or a smile could give him some hope, and give back his trust in goodness in this world, and finally he will change or want to be changed.therefor i will never give up trying or changing my mind, i will always treat bad guys in a nice way, and talk to them just like everyone else. but i will do that in case he treat me back with respect, if not then i could give him an excuse one or two times but if i get always the same bad behavior from him, then i will leave him alone and not even talk to him again, because i will know that it is his choice to be the bad guy. and all my trying will be in a wast.well, till now in my life, i could remember many occasions when i had to deal with some people who assumed as bad guys from others. i remember i talked to them nicely and they reply me the same, in fact all the bad guys i met in my life and i was nice to them, they were replying me the same or were avoiding me, and in a very few times i was in touch with their bad behavior and even so they end up apologizing to me, thanks god for that. in the same time i should say that it is very hard to be nice with everyone, sometimes you could be afraid from that bad guy or aware from dealing with him, or worse you may hate what he is doing, but if you believe what you do is the right thing then you should do it no matter what. it is something like hiding your true feelings and reactions to offer something good for that bad person even sometimes you know he may not react to you or you are wasting your time. but i think the try is worthy to take chances, because your nice word or you way of treating him, may be a reason of changing that person for a better one forever.

[Shahrukh 0]

I personally believe that you should be nice because I'm religious and at least with Christianity the view is that God should be the only one judging others -- by treating people badly due to their behaviors you are in essence judging them.

I have similar beliefs. Islam also teaches to do good to everyone; but, sometimes, you do have to be tough to tell the other person you are not under his control.

Nice Topic!(...)
I believe we all need/have someone to shout at, to cry to, in essence a person whom you take maximum rights with. Most likely, the other person will be happy to be your sole vent, and accept it, and it'll eventually become option 2. But, if some of your not-so close friends were to do the same thing, it'll be option 1. What I'm trying to say is, if a person who you think will be bad to you when you are bad, is actually nice, it'll be option 1. But if a person who you think will be nice is too nice, it'll lead to option 2.

Thank you.
Yup, I meant normal people. But in a different sense.
You are right, sometimes people need to bring out their accumulated bad feelings to feel better. However, some people are just bad by nature.
For example, people who tease others daily in school, homes, etc. Once in a while is OK and fun but being disturbed daily is not very entertaining.
They are the kind of people I was talking about. Not specifically pranksters, but the bad by nature people.

very nice topic ahahrukh,for me i strongly believe in treating everyone nicely, and when i say EVERYONE, i mean exactly EVERYONE.(...)

Thank you again.
I also believe in being nice to everyone.
However, there have been instances when people give a hard time to you or your fellows and don't give them their rights.
I don't like people like those and think they don't deserve our nice behaviour.
Every man reaps what he sows. So, if you are way out in being bad, you should be taught a lesson, both by people and God.

[missy2205 0]

i think there are stages in everything. I'd say Bad guys should be treated nicely so they feel guilty about their evil actions but after a while if they dont change they maybe an eye for an eye then comes into play. SO many times evil guys get away with being evil because people who are religious forgive and forget and say things like vengence is for GOd and turn the other chick. but then the bad guys dont change they continue thinking i outsmarted them and got away with it.

Edited July 29, 2010 by missy2205 (see edit history)

[Shahrukh 0]

i think there are stages in everything. I'd say Bad guys should be treated nicely so they feel guilty about their evil actions but after a while if they dont change they maybe an eye for an eye then comes into play. SO many times evil guys get away with being evil because people who are religious forgive and forget and say things like vengence is for GOd and turn the other chick. but then the bad guys dont change they continue thinking i outsmarted them and got away with it.

Hmmm...yes, that seems like a good idea. But then how do you decide when to move over to the next stage?

[magnafrost 0]

Hmmm...yes, that seems like a good idea. But then how do you decide when to move over to the next stage?

Its upto your observation and deduction. If your good deed caused him to have the tiniest bit of reforming himself, keep doing it. Otherwise you know what to do

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Its upto your observation and deduction. If your good deed caused him to have the tiniest bit of reforming himself, keep doing it. Otherwise you know what to do

Yeah, there are some situations where I believe people need to be dealt with -- they can cause a lot of problems if they aren't. Usually people are better off around nice people so it really just depends.

But our jail system is definitely full of fail. Consider how it works:

1) You commit a crime. Let's say you killed someone
2) You are sent to jail
3) While you are in jail you are around other murderers
4) From these others you learn even MORE ways to kill people, and ways to not get caught
5) You're eventually released with all of your new information
6) You go out and kill some more, rinse, and repeat


That's pretty much how it works right now. They say "if you commit a crime we will put you with other criminals." What is that supposed to solve? Being around others who do bad things for years will cause nothing but *more* crimes to be pushed through your mind.

[Shahrukh 0]

Its upto your observation and deduction. If your good deed caused him to have the tiniest bit of reforming himself, keep doing it. Otherwise you know what to do

That is a very good solution, actually. Try out good actions for a while and if there is no improvement noticeable, let 'em have it!

Yeah, there are some situations where I believe people need to be dealt with -- they can cause a lot of problems if they aren't. Usually people are better off around nice people so it really just depends.
But our jail system is definitely full of fail. (...)

Yeah, sometimes, people are different with different people. But their nature does show at one point or the other.

I agree with the jail systems. It just wastes the time of the criminals. Doesn't really help.

[mandla 0]

I think that the whole jil system doesnt really work and i think that we should be totally extreme. If you steal for what they call unjustified reasons such as stealing then I think they shold give you a warning. there after another warnign and the on strike three they should cut off finger. I know this sounds unhuman but if you thrive on stealling i guess if we cut away enough fingers yu get to a point where you going to think enuff is enough. Obviously hearing this from me will sound evil and possibly make you think what year am i leaving in but i will tell you why i came to this conclusion. When I was 19 I was hard workign and bought furniture for my house in full as in kitted my house fully ii then started concentrating on paying my mortgage. After a while i went on holiday for a long weekend and on my return in monday even I came home to find i had moved. Literally they broke into my house and took everything including my clothes all that was left was a bed base, they took the matress. I was devasted it was so hard to cope and a month later i was in the bus and saw a gentleman wearing my shirt I recognised my shirt because I had spburnt it on the collar and the cuff links were zippers and one of the zippers was stuck. I also reconginsed it cause the shirt was bought on holiday in South Africa so it was a slightly different looking outfit to the norm in UK. I did a citizens arrest and called the police who arrested this guy and took him to the cells they said they would contact me about the case and surely they did to tell me he'd confessed but he said he sold oall my stuff and didnt remeber to who cause he just had a garage sale using it. Guess what though, he plead not guilty when the issue went to court and the court released him on bail and they said they would give me a trial date 8 months later i called the police asking for progress they said the case was thrown out because since there was no evidence and the guy did a u-turn in court saying he only confessed cause the police were tourturing him psycologically he had said what they wanted to hear. Funny enough he was realied on bail and was given his clothes back which the shoes and jeans and Shirt were all my clothes he had stolen so no wonder they had no evidence.I never recovered my stuff and no justice was done. I wished I had cut a fiunger off his hand so he would learn and i would get retribution. So for me treating them well and giving them rights to a fair trial only made me a double victim. So I say no good treatment for bad guys actually do as in South AFrica Instant Justice if you catch a bad guy in a public place they mob beat him until usually by the time the cops come they have dealt thouroughly with the bad guy and if its a big crime like being caught red handed raping someone then they take a tyre put it around your neck and pour petrol on it and burn it. Thats the only way to treat criminals. I hate bad guys and dont care if they get an ounce of good treatment ever.

[Shahrukh 0]

I can't agree more.Our legal system has way too many loopholes. It makes it really hard to get justice. Even if the law exists, the time period involved in getting results is far too long.Somewhat off topic yet interesting incident:I know a person who was kidnapped by a guy. Gladly, the kidnapped person was by giving ransom. In the struggle to arrest the criminal, one police officer was killed. Later he killed one of his friend for a car and also killed his own wife. Now he's been given a death sentence AND a life sentence for the last cases. As for the kidnapping, the case is still on. Its been about 2-3 years now.I mean, the guy is already sentenced to spend his life in prison AND he is to be hanged after the last case is decided. Why not do it now?

[Harlot 2]

I don't believe that it comes down to pandering to an individual or being passive. I think it comes down more to attempting to gain an understand of someones life and the reasons behind why they may conduct themselves in the fashion that they do. I don't believe in cutting anyone fingers off or allowing someone to go free without consequences for stealing, however, I believe that the consequences should be based on the reasoning behind the actions. An action should be based on the motive behind it. If someone breaks into a store in order to steal food to feed themselves, I consider that more as survival than stealing if it is concluded that the action was the best option available to the person executing it. However, at the same time, allowing individuals to get away with crime at the expense of no punishment sends the message that they can do it again. If someone gets away with knocking you over the head and taking your money, you better be ready for them to come back and do it again. And even if you sit down and have a talk with them about their action of knocking you over the head, they may decide that they like you and won't do it again. Instead, they will knock someone else over the head and take the money. People operate based on cause and effect. I knock you over the head = I get your money. If "I get your money" does not = "punishment", then it will be done again and again and again. There are some exceptions, however, the theory still remains in tact. I don't support the idea that people shouldn't receive punishment for their actions, and I believe a lot of people think that way based off of brief interactions with prisoners and the disadvantaged. Yes, most people should realize that the average prisoner is not a heartless machine. But, that realization should not end with the conclusion that no punishment in deserved. As for rehabilitation, it does not work. I say this not because I do not believe in the power of rehabilitation, but because it needs a major reform. Rehabilitation should really be based on an individual's background, culture, and lifestyle. People are different, they are not bees. You can't pull them all in with the same honey. Rehabilitation programs don't address the root cause of the problem. It explains the wrongness of the crime, but does not address the reasoning because the crime. It does not address the cause and effect, and put it in a way that the individual being rehabilitated can understand.

[chini13 11]

Its like killing the crime and not the criminal? There is a psychology behind every crime.We give punishment in order to bring an end to the crime but sometimes it don't work.We are humans and we should focus on finding a better human in every person.The basic reasons behind any crime are the jealousy, revenge, dishonesty, greed which leads to crime.The way we deal with the crime effects the society at large.I would say the crime should always be dealt strictly no way given to the criminal for the next offense.But the punishment should include making him learn to deal with those criminal behavior.Dealing with the actual reason so that after the punishment the person is not promoted to do any such activity.I don't find any fault if a person is doing crime for food . Its the basic thing and if we are deprived of that we can do any crime.So the solution would be to not let the people starve and provide easy way to earn and lead their livelihood.There are many things which can't be dealt though and they have become habit.The mental and psychological changes can greatly help built up a better human.Killing the bad and generating the good in every person would be best.But if the person is completely distorted and his mental state is not able to accept any good .If their is no realization of the crime then harshest punishment would be better as the crime and the criminal here are same

[mahesh2k 0]

Our legal system has way too many loopholes. It makes it really hard to get justice. Even if the law exists, the time period involved in getting results is far too long.

I see this differently. These loopholes are thought as perfect defense at first but soon humans find a way out of almost every restriction. It's like lock and key. More difficult lock we find to break, someone comes up and finds a way out. It's not about legal system. It's about ability of humans to get around things.
It's not just about rules, crime, morality. Think about this from psychological viewpoint. People in boredom and needs commit crime than people who are satisfied. Boredom gives rise to random thinking in our head. With boredom we can find a way out of many things.