Why does 1 bad deed outweigh 100 good deeds?

[oatmeal]

Of course it does depend on what the bad deed is and how serious it is.
So let's rule out anything along the lines of murder or killing someone. In that case,
even if you did 1000 good deeds, that 1 bad deed would surely outweigh it (although it does
depend again on how good those 1000 deeds were like say you saved 1000 lives but you
could only do it by killing 1 person....hmmm).

But let's use a less extreme case.

So let's say you have been a donor and generously gave money to the poor, helped charities,
and volunteered your time hundreds of times over your life and gave thousands of dollars, let's
round it out to 100 good deeds.

But then you make a mistake and you did something bad like go on a racist tirade that got caught on camera or went viral on the internet, or, you got caught stealing money, defrauding someone, and booked and charged, story in the paper.

Why does that one bad deed seriously outweigh the 100 good deeds? It seems that you could build your entire life as being a good person, giving generously and then one bad deed destroys it all and people don't care all the good you've done in the world, they only remember and hold you responsible for the 1 bad deed.

Why? Is it fair? Probably not, but why does it work this way?

 

[Deleted member 15724]

As far as in the media, all the negative stuff get more clicks, views, and attention. You might get that feel good story here and there, but for the most part, it's all about crimes, politics, scandals, and negative stuff going on around the world. That's what people want, so that's what they get.

 

[TheVigilante]

Well karma is for sure there the thing is you can't perish the whole bad deeds (karma) but you can definitely lessen the karma

 

[Dreams411]

It shows that 1 bad deed is equivalent to 1,000,000 good deeds. People will call you a hero and all kinds of flattery names when you're doing good, but wait until you mistakenly do 1 bad, they'll have you crucified in a heartbeat.

 

[TheVigilante]

As they say it's take a lot of hard work to earn respect but you loose it with one bad mistake

 

[Faceless Men]

As they say it's take a lot of hard work to earn respect but you loose it with one bad mistake

There is a famous quote. It takes years to build a good reputation and just seconds to ruin it

 

[incognito19]

Our brain is wired to remember the bad episodes as a way to create experiences and learn, and avoid repeating expensive mistakes. So basically, we remember the bad things more than the good things. That is why you can remember when a person did something wrong, but tend to forget or ignore all the good deeds. No mystery, just the way the brain works.

 

[Jinyus]

If you pour a cup of dirty water into a barrel of clean water, then the water in the barrel is dirty.

 

[AngelSeo]

Of course it does depend on what the bad deed is and how serious it is.
So let's rule out anything along the lines of murder or killing someone. In that case,
even if you did 1000 good deeds, that 1 bad deed would surely outweigh it (although it does
depend again on how good those 1000 deeds were like say you saved 1000 lives but you
could only do it by killing 1 person....hmmm).

But let's use a less extreme case.

So let's say you have been a donor and generously gave money to the poor, helped charities,
and volunteered your time hundreds of times over your life and gave thousands of dollars, let's
round it out to 100 good deeds.

But then you make a mistake and you did something bad like go on a racist tirade that got caught on camera or went viral on the internet, or, you got caught stealing money, defrauding someone, and booked and charged, story in the paper.

Why does that one bad deed seriously outweigh the 100 good deeds? It seems that you could build your entire life as being a good person, giving generously and then one bad deed destroys it all and people don't care all the good you've done in the world, they only remember and hold you responsible for the 1 bad deed.

Why? Is it fair? Probably not, but why does it work this way?

Simple evolution. We are programmed to remember the bad things (regardless of what exactly) so we can never do this mistake again. From evolutionary perspective this is more beneficial for your survival that remembering the good.

 

[Webzz]

Simple evolution. We are programmed to remember the bad things (regardless of what exactly) so we can never do this mistake again. From evolutionary perspective this is more beneficial for your survival that remembering the good.

Exactly this. Brains are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Pain is like a file on your hard drive that you can't delete. Pleasure can be replaced/re-written, but not pain.

 

[WeeklyTasks]

Move on.. Life isn't fair. It could also be the other way around, you know.

 

[aduseia]

Our brain is wired to remember the bad episodes as a way to create experiences and learn, and avoid repeating expensive mistakes. So basically, we remember the bad things more than the good things. That is why you can remember when a person did something wrong, but tend to forget or ignore all the good deeds. No mystery, just the way the brain works.

Yea that's true. Apparently in behavioral science theory, this goes back through evolution as a self-preservation aspect of our brains.

To survive, it's better that a neanderthal or homo-erectus give more attention to a saber-toothed tiger lurking around the corner, than to fruits on trees all around them.

 

[BrandingCat]

It is all about marketing, in essence, nobody gives a fuck about X or Y is doing; if stupid people watch it, both parts happy.

 

[scudrock]

Psychologically humans want good and they always expect good to happen. Apparently when something bad happens it amplified the feeling and over-rides any good that has happened

 

[BobTheSnail181999]

fuck what everyone else thinks, do whatever you want and dont feel bad, as long as you dont do harm to others

 

[phoenix9]

Simple just like backlinks. 1000 low quality deeds won't win against one high quality deed.