The Good Person Bank

There are lots of negative personality traits that cause harm to others.

But the one that really bothers me, and that I think needs a lot more attention, is the one where people believe that doing good for others adds to a bank that allows them to take deductions in the form of treating people badly.

People start thinking they can talk to people any kind of way, or be super rude, or ignore people who don’t matter to them, or whatever.

And somehow they are justifying this because they give to charities or they’re nice to their friends or some other genuine good that they do in the world.

It’s like they have this background process running that says, “I am a good person”, and anytime they have cognitive dissonance around treating someone poorly, they use this Good Person stamp as justification to be an asshole.

One does not justify the other.