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2018-10-06

The Romantic American Idea That People do Good things Because They Are Good People

By Author Morgan Jassen

Someone told me that in Sleeping Beauty, the witch does bad things because she is evil.

Then I thought, well that's silly, she must have a motive -- she wouldn't do bad stuff for no reason -- could she maybe want money, or land, or status, or posessions, or access, or recognition or something?

But to some, instead the witch just does bad stuff because she is evil. that is the cause.

It sounds absurd to me, an adult who recently did reading in "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" as well as "Getting To Yes".

( https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/939740075 and https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/352472980 , respectively)

But thinking about it again. Before I had read those two books last year, I'd have myself as an adult more likely to have let the comment slide or maybe moreso agreed that people do bad things because they are evil and vice versa.

The thing is, after reading more motivational, self-management, and negotiation literature, that breaks this stuff down, it becomes clear that people are motivated by specific goals and needs and wants.

But a fairy tale, like Sleeping Beauty, as well as many so-called "hollywood" movies (/culture), really do play on the idea of good and evil people being the root of good and evil, and causing any number of bad outcomes.

Having watched a lot of hollywood style movies growing up, I have been subjected to this to a fair degree, as many people are.

It really had an effect on me, and now I'm having to unlearn some of the ideas to be able to be a more professional, and better negotiator and have a better character.

This blog post was republished in 2018 at https://i̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2018/