The news is full of bad things right now. I have a bunch of articles that my students have sent me recently (so much interest! so engaged!) that I want to share, but I am having trouble finding it appropriate. I grew up in New York, and now consider myself a Bostonian after living here for 13 years. I am having all the same terrible feelings this week as I did after 9/11. Aside from the obvious sadness for lost of life and limb, I am so angry at the loss of innocence.
As I have told you all many times, Patriots Day is the best day of the year here. It is like a little secret holiday, a celebration of spring, and athletics, and challenging yourself, and the role this area played in creating this country. When I used to practice law I was always on the phone with lawyers in other parts of the country, and they never understood why we had this random Monday in April off. (Technically I was usually there working, but the office was closed. That’s another story all together.) It is super frustrating to now have an ugly scar on our day, although I know we will push through and celebrate again.
And so, we move forward. I thought that this article about why people do bad things might be the only article I could bear sharing today. It summarizes lots of interesting research about why good people do bad things. I can’t help the evil people that set those bombs on Monday. But there is hope that we can live our best lives, and follow our values, if we pay attention to these pitfalls that trip the good people up. I choose to focus on the good people today.
4 Comments
Joe DiFilippo posted on April 17, 2013 at 11:10 am
As we are all beginning to cope with and mourn the losses those families suffered on Marathon Monday, I cannot agree with you more but question as to why people in general do bad things. As a Bostonian myself (my hometown is less than 10 miles outside of the city), I am deeply saddened by the events that occurred because I never would have thought it would happen in my town. It is reassuring to know that Boston has gained worldwide support and this issue will be resolved and that is what makes America the great nation it is. The article you attached provides great examples as to what drives people to do unethical things. It all begins with small, petty unethical decisions and tends to snowball from there. The ethical frameworks and guidelines should be honored and would help people make decisions. All of the examples in the article occur to most people at least a few times per week whether out with friends or in the workplace.
Robin Wan posted on April 19, 2013 at 4:27 pm
When a tragedy like the Boston Marathon bombing, we always question why a young individuals like the Tsarnaev brothers could do something this terrible. After reading the article about why people do bad things, it reminds me of the pitfalls that we discussed in the first day of class. The two most important pitfalls that are relevant to the bombing are rationalization and conformity. I feel that they never assimilated into American society when Tamerlan Tsarnaev mentioned that he doesn’t “have a single American friend, (don’t understand them.)” Therefore, he may rationalize his unethical and horrific action from his damaging experiences. He also mention that “he also support Chechnyan independence.” The pressure to conform to radicalism from his home country may lead him to commit things otherwise he might not do. I believe he failed to develop his own ideals and control his own destiny that result in him committing this horrible act.
Kimberly Kinsman posted on April 23, 2013 at 10:54 am
I almost even feel like these points don’t really begin to even encompass Tsarnaev’s motives. Yes, I do believe he wasn’t very confident so his and his brother probably played a massive role in his participation in this horrible tragedy, but I don’t think that we can even begin to call him a “good person.” In my opinion, good people don’t commit murder. Maybe they lose sight of their true goals in life by developing tunnel vision, or can rationalize petty theft, but none of these crimes result in actually murdering someone purposefully. He knew the consequences of his actions; he knew that people would be directly hurt because of these bombs. These points in the article show why good people do bad things, not why good people commit murder.
Zach Costello posted on April 30, 2013 at 8:29 pm
This article was missing a huge reason that I absolutely believe in. I don’t know if they have a name for this theory yet but I has to do with being remembered as someone “famous,” or infamous rather. This theory has been examined in relation to the movie theater shooting and the Sandy Hook tragedy. After the bombings happened on Marathon Monday, this theory was examined again. It has to do with people who are mentally not in the right place or depressed. If they have been having suicidal thoughts or have been thinking about committing awful acts of violence, seeing these kinds of incidents all over the news makes them more inclined to do it. Instead of someone just taking a bottle of pain killers in their house and dying a “nobody,” they want to make a name for themselves before they pass. Even if this name will be an evil one, they would rather have that than nothing. Now, I do not believe that this was the case with Tsarnaev one bit, but I just wanted to share another piece of insight as to why good people do bad things.