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> - People are still essentially good.

Out of every 100 people, 98 are absolutely wonderful human beings, 1 is an asshole, and 1 is a lunatic. My experience out of doing retail for a few years.

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Note that these can be the same people on different days.

So it's possible that actually all 100 people are assholes.

Only in the same sense that we can say "intenex wears a diaper" (because you were once a baby). Defining somebody by an off moment is one way to look at things, but I'm not sure it's particularly reasonable.

Depends on the type of moment... I like Lord Acton's exhortation to "judge talent at its best and character at its worst".[1]

[1]: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_A...

I think that's good advice in general, but you'll miss the point if you stick too closely to it. You kind of have to weight your judgments. I mean, yes, a guy who beats his wife if he's had a bad day at work should be judged pretty harshly based on that. But if you-at-your-worst is somebody who is kind of grumpy and maybe a little bit selfish, you're a whole lot better than somebody who constantly acts like a crabby miser.

Even then, I know plenty of people who are never assholes, even in an off moment.

Great observation !

I think the wonderful human beings are also lunatics. Just some a less extent than others.

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