[...] There’s no culture of good. | YOHAMI [...]

Good is not exciting or glamorous. Good doesn’t get you laid. Good doesn’t get you wealth. Hence why good character traits no longer apply. The content of one’s character if they are good will get them trampled on, used, abused, and eventually left isolated and alone. Good people are hard to come by because the culture doesn’t promote the good in them.

Honesty, fairness, integrity, diligence, work ethics, team player, sacrifice, loyalty, these do not matter for the most part. Nor will they make one stand out or get ahead. Just get by if they are lucky.

The flipside of course is being cunning, being two steps ahead of others, willing to be cutthroat, backstabbing, selfish, deceitful, loyal only to oneself, these do matter.

The criminals are the heroes. Always have been. Not because they do good things. But because their lives are looked at glamorously by those that wish they could be like them. Many live vicariously through criminals and why many famous names and folk tales center around them. Not too many people I know talk about cops or politicians in a good light (who many are scumbags themselves) because they are cowards for the most part. They are the real backstabbers and liars. But they do speak good of criminals. Mainly because they know the element of what they are dealing with the excitement of not knowing who. Not boring by any means.

Yohami:

“Honesty, fairness, integrity, diligence, work ethics, team player, sacrifice, loyalty, these do not matter for the most part. Nor will they make one stand out or get ahead. Just get by if they are lucky.”

These might get you wealth if you are working with and for other people who share these traits.

In the SMP traits like these many times results in exploitation.

None of these traits are glamorous.

You’re right, my angle was too pushed. The proper line would be “mainstream is all about evil” or so.

I know people who focus on the good… I even know small churches that do so.

Permaculture is cool, are you involved with that?

Yohami, I think this is one of the few places I disagree with you – that our culture currently is lionizing evil over good. I think that is too black and white.

Right now, our society is rewarding and valuing strength.

It’s simply easier to see and point to the darker strengths in society. They’re getting ahead. You still see the others – like you mentioned, the heroes that are battling their own demons. And you see images of God as some simpleton not willing to take power, and usually that image is portrayed right alongside someone willing to step up to the plate and bat in God’s place. Strength.

Those darker sides are easier. We all know that. You can look at the 48 laws of power and they make sense. They’re cold, ruthless, and they fucking get the job done. They’re easily explained, categorized, and sold. So, when you have a society that rewards all types of power, its not a big surprise that the ones you see most often are the darker ones, and that those are often held in check by laws and regulations.

The kind of shit we talk about though…. Of being the best men we can be. Of being our own leaders, carving our own kingdoms, creating our own fun, quality, values, and living for ourselves? Those are strengths too. And those strengths get rewarded. They’re just a damned sight harder to find. Harder to define. Harder to live.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the mainstream has lied to us. That is has told us that weakness is power. That turning the other cheek is the only side of power. Roll over, take it, grow callouses, man up, and watch that fire in your eyes die. They sold us that as power and strength.

Fuck that.

So, we make our own strength here in western, feminized culture. It isn’t the same type of strength that would be suitable for the type of cultures/societies that Wudang talks about – where ‘good’ is better known. Where saints are heroes and celebrities.

But it’s our own. So we’ll find it, create it, and own it. And then our lives and our world will be ours, and people will want to be a part of them. And we’ll have journeys, stories, growth, find the rewards in our choices, and strive to continue all of those things.

Leap, let me put it this way. This side of the world equals strength with evil and good with weak.

But look at Goku and other mangas, and you´ll see good guys that are anything but weak, neither are boring.

Or a shuffle: strength doesnt equal evil, still, whenever someone gets defeated and wants to overcome stuff, they also think / feel that they have to lose the “good” side.

In reality, evil is weak, because evil comes from fear, and is drawning in shame and cant resist exposure nor light.

Yet we have all these movies and shows exploring every shadow there is, every possible twist of evil.

When it comes about showing good, they show cartoons, pale and boring. But it’s just a framing, THEIR framing.

Good != boring.

I make money and win by doing the stuff Jim says can only get you by.

here’s the story that hasnt been made on tv (I think): the story of a good guy, good but not “nice”, in a new town, with principles, that fights against evil and interesting people, but manages to out beat them and outsmart them, without needing superpowers or miracles, but only will and determination.

A lot of hollywood movies start like that, but then invariably make the hero fail (the hero is not enough), and then introduce a miracle, or they kill him.

So how about more studies about good.

Nothing can exist without its opposite. So when I see a stupid movie that wants to show evil as all powerful, well……doesn’t that mean that there is an off-setting powerful good? or does the Devil exist in a vacuum? How absolutely f**king boring for the devil.

Presumably, Satan can entertain himself.
Westerns thrive on the good but not nice archetype. Quigley Down Under being my favorite. As for Fantasy/Sci-Fi… not much outside of Japan.

In Western thought, mainly since the end of WWII, though starting right after the American Civil War, there is this concept that good=nice and strong=evil. Which gives us the red pill/blue pill dichotomy: we have been ditching out on good things (like being badass) in order to be nice (since nice people don’t fight, and thus do not need to be badass). Thus, we consign positive aspects that attract women to those men who do not care about societal norms. That’s half of Game. The other half is that women are human and just as fallible as men, but our culture assumes they are divine.

I would tend to blame it on the Western Church, which, in turn I would blame on 1) Reading the Bible as though it’s a fortune cookie written yesterday in Kansas instead of a collection of books in different genres written in the ancient East, and 2) Assuming that since America was founded by Christians, American culture = Christianity. But I’m a theology/philosophy nerd, so my assumptions will automatically default to that which I’ve studied.

But what I actually want to say is: Good post.

[...] Yohami – There Is No Culture Of Good [...]

There is a great manga/anime out there, called Kaiji. I think it makes good look cool. Or rather, the main guy is not a saint and he has no powers, but he remains good and retains strength in the face of temptation and corruption of everyone around him. And goes through major emotional torture.

The show is also very pessimistic and cynical, but at the same time uplifting.