I don't think that it's nice to follow the false testimony of niceness. That is, I think it allows people to fail to grow, to fail to address their own sillinesses, to fail to challenge their own failures. That's not nice, I would say. Indeed, the nicest thing to do, quite often, is too very mean-soundingly shout, "the Emperor has no clothes!"
As an educator, it would be "nice" of me to offer my students easy homework, maybe. I'd be a little bit more popular (though as you know, they already do, mostly, like me). But it wouldn't be good for them.
In general, I think that there's a lot of virtue to trying to think about what consequences come from "niceness", before just giving people what they want. But that doesn't mean one should just look out for #1, and indeed, I think that may mean that the "nice/mean" axis isn't totally meaningful. (heh.)
This doesn't mean you should start beating me. *grin*
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Date: Saturday, 20 May 2006 03:42 am (UTC)As an educator, it would be "nice" of me to offer my students easy homework, maybe. I'd be a little bit more popular (though as you know, they already do, mostly, like me). But it wouldn't be good for them.
In general, I think that there's a lot of virtue to trying to think about what consequences come from "niceness", before just giving people what they want. But that doesn't mean one should just look out for #1, and indeed, I think that may mean that the "nice/mean" axis isn't totally meaningful. (heh.)
This doesn't mean you should start beating me. *grin*