Why we like morally grey characters so much:

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020Leave a comment

alexandru-acea-AXJhIg4FhzI-unsplash

Have you ever noticed that your favorite TV or book characters are that lovely shade of morally grey. They do bad things all the time, but they are still somehow a good character. A few examples that pop to mind is Kaz from the book series Six of Crows, or Lucifer in the show Lucifer. They’re not technically good characters but we root for them regardless. Why do we love these morally grey characters so much?

They’re redeemable, whether it’s in certain actions, their tragic back story, or simply their love for other characters. They all have redeemable traits, no matter how bad they get or what they have to do to survive, and I think deep down inside, we all relate to that. We all want to be redeemable. We all strive to be redeemed.

We’re not out killing people (I hope) like a lot of morally grey fiction characters but we all have our fair share of dirt we’d rather not discuss or think about. We are all riddled with flaws, we are human after all, and when we see others riddled with flaws in our entertainment we root for them, because if there is good in them there sure as hell is good in us.

I think it’s human nature to see both the worst and the best in people. Our society likes to pretend that we normally see the worst in people, and maybe they are right to a certain degree. We as a species stereotype, we hold on to grudges, we cling to anger. But if our entertainment says anything about us it tells us that we are still rooting for the best in people, we still want the good in everyone to prevail.

We like our morally grey characters because no matter the scale, they are relatable, and we like them because they give us someone to root for.

High horses: Lets talk about pride

February 3, 2020Leave a comment

I did a post on gluttony a while back about how it often felt like the forgotten sin. I still think that, but I’m starting to think there might be one even more overlooked..

Pride.

Pride comes in a lot of forms, but the one I mainly want to talk about is the view of moral superiority. It’s rampant and we’re all guilty of it at sometimes, but I feel like it’s taking over the internet by storm.

People can talk about Instagram and envy till the cows come home, but I want to talk about people shaming others, blasting others, and pushing themselves up by pushing others down. It’s a school yard trick that’s gotten a much bigger audience with social media. It’s the constant “Actually you’re wrong and I can tell you why, because I’m right” not about one topic or two topics, but every topic all the time. Our views are firm, unmoving, and only the people who agree with us are worth listening too.

And for the record, I’m not just talking about politics. I’m talking about everything from people arguing the best way to feed a baby to the best way to teach a English class. Our views are viewed as the supreme in all subjects, and we’re willing to fight to the death about it. It’s not necessarily a new cultural shift, but it’s something we need to talk about because it’s starting to seep into every aspect of our lives.

Continue reading →

You are capable of evil, acknowledge that so you can foster goodness:

December 3, 2018Leave a comment

When I was in college I took a basic physiology class, there was one girl in the class that objected to everything. If there was decades of studies proven that humans tend to do this terrible thing in this circumstance she would scream about how she would never do that. At first you could excuse her outburst, it’s hard to process that we are all capable of doing terrible things. It’s hard to process that if you were in a different situation with a different upbringing you could be a killer, or a rapist, or whatever else. Nobody likes to think about it, but it’s true for everyone. Humans are capable of terrible things, and therefore you are, no exceptions.

Her outbursts weren’t just at the beginning, they weren’t even rare, they were present after every topic, a few times a class. They got more and more defensive. It was frustrating, but it’s not unusual. Scrolling through peoples responses to level headed articles about how everyone contributes to evil you’ll see that she was not an outlier.

People honestly don’t believe they are capable of bad. They don’t think their group is capable of the bad things a different group did. They don’t acknowledge that we can all be manipulated to others gain or demise if someone took the time to learn how we tick. People don’t want to think about the fact that the media they are taking in influences them, and that if they slipped into reading more extreme outlets they they too could become the extremists. They don’t want to talk about the terrible things they might be willing to do if they supported the outcome of them.

I mean, who would?

Continue reading →

The Value of Morals: Why it’s Important to Take a Closer Look

October 13, 2016May 24, 2017Leave a comment

I think morals have been on a lot of peoples minds lately, mainly because this election season there seems to be a lack of them from everyone. I’m not here to talk politics and being upset by them. Actually if I’m being honest that’s the last thing in the world I want to do. Instead I’m going to talk about your morals and about mine. I’ve said before that I have strong morals, and I do, but if you asked me to list some of them I wouldn’t be able to. They feel just like a code of right and wrong. In a lot of ways they are. Here’s the definition:

Morals (noun): a person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.

I find morals interesting, because while they link to the general idea of right and wrong, they’re a lot more personal than that. And they also come from a very personal place, whether that be religion, our upbringing, our education, or a mixture of factors. Continue reading →