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If you were invisible (or above the law)

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Brain Matter?

Brain Matter?

Skilled Investigator
If you were invisible (or above the law) would you be a very bad person?

This might sound like a stupid question but the human mind can be an evil thing, I mean just think what you could get away with.

I’m asking because I know myself (I consider myself as a good person, I try not to hurt anyone in any way and if I do I feel bad) and yes I would steal , cheat and get what I want from the opposite sex if there were no repercussions.

Dose that make me a bad person?

What would you do if you know you wouldn’t get any punishment?

If you asked me I’d say everyone was bad and its only the basic laws that keep us in check.

(but hay I’m a pessimist:():)
 
If I were invisible? hmm good question. I certainly wouldn't be evil or do evil things.

But I would be somewhat of a trickster. Perhaps "borrow" things for a short time with the full intention of returning them later of course.:D

Being invinsible and able to pass though solid matter(eg walls),would be in a word awesome.
 
Hey Brain Matter, I've grappled with the question of human nature recently. I started out with the idea that people are fundamentally "good" and that life events can take them down "bad" paths. Then I started despairing and thinking that the only thing that held us back from doing crazy damage was the law.

I remember talking to a priest who said that human nature was fundamentally good but that an over-involvement in the mind relative to the soul can lead one down dark paths.

I myself have rarely met people who are fundamentally "bad". I think that when people's basic needs are fulfilled they begin to turn toward helping others. Therefore I think that it is not in the interest of the race to devolve into chaos and bad deeds. We are, I think, a communal animal.
 
If I were invisible I'd be blind (think about it), and that would suck.

As for above the law...I prefer to think of myself as "alternatively law-abiding".
 
If I were invisible/above the law, I would steal chocolate every day. And never pay for groceries. Or clothes. Or anything. :eek: :D

I would also play lots of pranks on people. Don't think I'd physically harm anyone, though.
 
I would try to be and while I would be harmless for the most part, I'm sure I'd slip up a few times enroute to being a good person. I'm sure it would happen a lot whenever a line up or some other test of patience occurred.
 
Great question Brain Matter,

I tend to agree with aaronpsych that most people are fundementally good, though
given the oppurtunity I am sure most people would test out their invisibility by playing tricks on one another. I certainly would, and am having fun right now just imagining what I might do.

I know where you're coming from, in respect to how you feel that most people would behave badly, and I think to a degree you are probably right, but only if you could turn the invisible state on and off. If it were permenant I think you would go insane, and then probably very bad along the way.

Really like your question though.

Mark
 
I would head straight for Washington, D.C. and soon there would be news reports of a lot of "accidents" happening. There are lots of concrete steps to trip and have a bad fall on, and more than a few politicians that I believe should.
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skunkape said:
I would head straight for Washington, D.C. and soon there would be news reports of a lot of "accidents" happening. There are lots of concrete steps to trip and have a bad fall on, and more than a few politicians that I believe should.
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Oh, that line of thinking changes everything! Yeah, I would set out to get some answers to some of the things I ponder about political figures, various "closed door meetings" and other such things.

As for if you couldn't turn it off... that's a really good point about insanity. And actually, even being the sole person able to turn invisible... well, I could see that causing insanity too.
 
Brain Matter? said:
I’m asking because I know myself (I consider myself as a good person, I try not to hurt anyone in any way and if I do I feel bad) and yes I would steal , cheat and get what I want from the opposite sex if there were no repercussions.

Dose that make me a bad person?
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Get what you want from the opposite sex? What does that mean? You would rape women? This makes you not only a bad person but a terrible one. And guess what? I would be there to stop you every time, invisibility or no, because super heroes always put down the villains.
 
Hmmm. There is much antagonism about 'the law' in the sense that people seem to think the law is artificial, therefore being above it gains a person a certain sense of freedom from it. Many people, for example, feel drug laws out to be rescinded because they interfere with an individual's right to get high however they choose. If alcohol is legal, why isn't marijuana?

But it goes further than this. There are people who feel that if I have two pair of pants and you have none, it is your 'right' to steal a pair from me because you don't have one. Yet this infringes on moral law where 'Thou shalt not steal' is considered by many to be in a different category than artificial law; it's a moral law.

Then it gets political. There are people who feel 'the rich' ought to pay 'their fair share' of taxes. So what is fair? Right now in the US the top 50% of households pay 97% of all income taxes. The bottom 50% pay 3% of the income taxes, and 27 million returns owe no taxes at all. So, we have varying interpretations of what is fair. (Please, I'm not arguing one way or another, but trying to stay on point.)

So then we get into a situation where invisible people want to exert their moral duty and try to 'do good,' like tripping 'bad' politicians on the stairs. That's when you run the risk of becoming your own moral authority, regardless that you have people who share your views. You think you are 'doing good.' I think you are committing murder. A good example is Ted Kaczinski, who killed people in an attempt to stop technology, which he viewed as bad.

People who come into power (become invisible) are the scariest of all because millions of people have died at the hands of people who are 'doing good.'
 
Schuyler said:
So then we get into a situation where invisible people want to exert their moral duty and try to 'do good,' like tripping 'bad' politicians on the stairs. That's when you run the risk of becoming your own moral authority, regardless that you have people who share your views. You think you are 'doing good.' I think you are committing murder. A good example is Ted Kaczinski, who killed people in an attempt to stop technology, which he viewed as bad.

People who come into power (become invisible) are the scariest of all because millions of people have died at the hands of people who are 'doing good.'
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O.K. then, you're probably right. I wouldn't kill anybody...but if I know for a fact they are lying, theiving bastards, I will scare them into being honest or make them look insane. It would be fun to stand behind someone like Ben Bernanke or Tim Geithner while they're blowing smoke up Congress's ass and just start rib-tickling the hell out of'em.
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I might sit in at some UFO conferences and flick speakers in the ear when they say something completely ridiculous. I'd flick them harder the more nonsensical the statement. I'd probably have to change fingers several times and I'm sure I'd wear out before the nonsense stopped.

I really couldn't and wouldn't bring myself to do anything I considered really bad even if I could get away with it. I've been in positions already where I could steal things or perform other outlandish acts, but I never have. Why would I?? Even if no one ever found out, I would still know. And thats enough for me.
 
Chuckleberryfinn said:
Is there a way to block myself from seeing certain people's posts?
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Go to 'User Cp' at the top, in the left column click 'Edit Ignore List.' You should be able to figure it out from there.
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Chuckleberryfinn said:
Get what you want from the opposite sex? What does that mean? You would rape women? This makes you not only a bad person but a terrible one. And guess what? I would be there to stop you every time, invisibility or no, because super heroes always put down the villains.
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I meant more in the way of watching them in the shower or getting undressed (if every man on this planet could do that 90% of them would and if you think that’s not true then your kidding yourself)

I posted this question to see if people could really look into them self’s and see what they are really like.

Power corrupts almost everyone and the people that think they are immune to it are the people you have to watch because as far as their concerned they are still doing good when its evil to everyone else.
 
Brain Matter? said:
I posted this question to see if people could really look into them self’s and see what they are really like.
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Failure to do this is a major cause of the insanity much of humanity is currently suffering. The sewers of the Collective Unconscious are clogged up with some pretty ugly trash. Taking an honest look at one's own deep down ugliness is the first step in flushing those pipes clean. Self-righteous people who believe they do no wrong are usually the most destructive type of human.
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I apologize ahead of time for those that adore him, but Michael Jackson was the epitome of what too much money and fame (translation - power) can do to a man. As the saying goes, "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Being above the law or invisible (assuming we overcome the blindness factor) would lead to this. Maybe not right away for some people, and it may take years or decades for others but eventually, I think, it would corrupt anybody with this type of ability.

This is one of those questions where you just never know for sure, regardless of the self image you have. I know I would eventually do bad things myself, it would tap into that darker human nature, but I honestly cannot say how or what I would do. It's fun to fantasize, but ultimately no one can say for sure what they would do with that kind of ability.
 
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