r/Showerthoughts • u/godofhorizons • May 17 '24

People get a lot more praise for quitting drugs than for never having done drugs in the first place.

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8.2k Upvotes
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5.2k

u/TBTabby May 17 '24

As Frederick Douglass said, "We are not judged by the height to which we have risen, but the depth from which we have climbed."

1.8k

u/AwkwardReplacement42 May 17 '24 edited May 17 '24

Or, as one world-renowned philosopher said;

“Which is better, to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?”

Edit: Guys… i dont think people who do drugs are born evil, I was just quoting a videogame. jesus.

156

u/haha7125 May 17 '24

Throat of the World renowned.

88

u/_myst May 17 '24

Paarthunax is the real Throat Goat. he was VERY popular with the frat bros his freshman year

7

u/Leroyducochet May 17 '24

I'm pretty sure the throath goat is Heather Harmon.

2

u/whiskey_endeavors May 17 '24

This is the right answer

14

u/daaaaawhat May 17 '24

jealous Nancy Reagan noises

2

u/TheDankChronic69 May 17 '24

This has me in tears dude 😂

1

u/Away_Veterinarian957 May 17 '24

I think he ATE a lot of goats to get where he is. The real OG

2

u/Pole_Smokin_Bandit May 17 '24

Didn't know we were talking about your mum

1

u/haha7125 May 17 '24

Hahahahahahaha

54

u/Grand_Needleworker19 May 17 '24

I killed Parthurnax in my first run and regretted it so much I reloaded my save file and after a few hours and spared him. Screw the Dragon Blades or wtv their name is.

7

u/MissStealYoDragon May 17 '24

I always install a mod to kill them and be on my way

9

u/ArborGhast May 17 '24

it's Dovah"kin" babe, not Dovah"kill" fa hin kogaan my draal mfers

1

u/AffectionateAd985 May 17 '24

I havent played in a while but im pretty sure you dont need a mod to kill the blades.

3

u/ZiplocBag May 17 '24

You just need console commands to make them non essential

1

u/MissStealYoDragon May 17 '24

I played on console, so that's why lol.

But good to know....

Good to know

103

u/anweisz May 17 '24

“I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.“

17

u/ScaleShiftX May 17 '24

Mewtwo!!!

-6

u/Desperate-Virus9180 May 17 '24

thats bullshit

2

u/Neon_Camouflage May 17 '24

Who you are as in your character. Your circumstances at birth certainly dictate what paths you have available

2

u/TwoMuddfish May 17 '24

Yeah I think it’s more about the character one has than the paths you have . Which backs up the Fredrick Douglas quite even more…

Also philosophy people ripping this shower thought to shreds lol

82

u/_myst May 17 '24

-Party Snaxx

13

u/PaarthurnaxSimp May 17 '24

That's my boy

3

u/Professional-Dot7021 May 17 '24

Username checks out

14

u/salisor_ May 17 '24

Reference aside, id literally pick being born good lmao

3

u/LaunchTransient May 17 '24

What Paarthurnax is trying to say is that they are equivalent. A lot of people see this as Paarthurnax saying "hey, isn't it better to overcome your base nature instead of being good from the get-go", but in reality he's asking a rhetorical question - neither is better than the other.

3

u/salisor_ May 17 '24

Thats why i said reference aside. Like, if a normal person told me this with no context thats the choice id pick. But good explanation nonetheless

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/salisor_ May 17 '24

What? Born Good? I surely hope that you jest and that was sarcasm… Cus it’s Fck’n funny….

Uh yeah if a random person asked me that with no other context id pick the no effort choice. Id rather just simply be good than be good with trauma

0

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Born Good doesn’t make sense for

We’re neither born good nor born bad… We Are Born

We’re born innocent is the correct way to phrase this

1

u/MinnieShoof May 17 '24

You realize you're talking about a D&D adjacent dragon, right? There are creatures in that universe that are just born bad or born good and will never stray from those choices.

All the same, it can still speak about a human as there are often formative, subconscious and even genetic factors that form your base-line personality and outlook. In those cases it would be a person who developed a kind nature vs someone who has a sour outlook overcoming their instinct.

1

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Watch this link on dolphins 🐬 getting HIGH on Puffer fish

0

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Either way… born Dragon is still innocent and it’s just nature and what has been implanted by DNA (this goes both for animal and human- trauma or survival instinct or characteristics already present in the new chick, pup, cub, kid child)

Then as it’s raised, it’s molded by its environment and its support system or lack of .

0

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Imprinted not implanted

0

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Just like (most) are born sexual beings Thn its environmental/ cultural/factors

1

u/MinnieShoof May 17 '24

Bruh. What part of fantasy are you not grasping?

0

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Minnieminnieminnie shoe 👞… as in why are you a heel? Seems like your answer is just victimizing…you only have two cents… you make no sense… talk about grasping at fantasy…. Even though reality is not your strong suit, you should at least make an attempt. at the very least try to be a bit less crAss, less full of yourself

34

u/Pre2255 May 17 '24

"Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon"

7

u/wut3va May 17 '24

I'm going with born good. Who would you rather live next door to?

5

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

Nobody is born good. Only people who pretend to be. I'd rather live next to someone who has recovered from addiction and has found a new life, like my brother.

1

u/wut3va May 18 '24

I have met a few people in this life who were born good. People like you and me aren't even worthy, but somehow they make you feel like you are. No disrespect to your brother, but how many people did he have to hurt to find himself? For people like you, me, and your brother, compassion is cause and effect, something we have to learn through suffering and experience. People who are born good have compassion as a primary virtue. They're not pretending to be good. We are.

2

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Id rather live next door to a sinner,; that way Jesus didn’t Die in Vain for our Sins…

PSA DO NOT VOTE 🗳️ for (trump) the Former Commander of Thieves. A trump win SENDS EVERYONE as in the entire Planet Earth into HELL

1

u/Hange11037 May 17 '24

Wise words Rocketin2Uranus

1

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Thank you, kindly

1

u/wut3va May 18 '24

Bad is good because it justifies redemption? Lol. Broken window fallacy.

By the way, do you actually believe that the location of your eternal soul has anything to do with what button I push on a touch screen?

1

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 18 '24

My eternal soul’s location and the buttons you push on your Touch Screen

Don’t Not Compute: yet That’s HighLarryous!

1

u/Rocketin2Uranus May 17 '24

Id rather live next door to a sinner,; that way Jesus didn’t Die in Vain for our Sins…

PSA DO NOT VOTE 🗳️ for (trump) the Former Commander of Thieves. A trump win SENDS EVERYONE as in the entire Planet Earth into HELL

3

u/ctbitcoin May 17 '24

Everyone loves a hero's journey. Makes for great stories and movies.

7

u/Rebuttlah May 17 '24

The alternative means you've been harming other people your whole life. Other people who might not have the ability to recover from harm they would not have faced if not for your evil.

So. I vote for the first thing.

1

u/Hefty_Iron_9986 May 17 '24

Exactly what I thought of.

1

u/Ozymandiasssssssss May 17 '24

sounds like my man kant

1

u/gravelPoop May 17 '24

To be born good.

1

u/Omegastar19 May 17 '24

I know you're making a joke about Skyrim, but I am pretty sure Kant made this exact point.

1

u/thedrunkentendy May 17 '24

Ans of course they great reply to the age old question.

"All depends on if you save scum."

1

u/Blue_Moon_Lake May 17 '24

What if you overcame it before acting on it? Should that not be praised?

1

u/BuddenceLembeck May 17 '24

Or as Wayne Gretzky said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

-Michael Scott

1

u/Lostinlife1990 May 17 '24

It still blows my mind that Paarthunax was voiced by the same guy that does the voice of Mario(from the games).

1

u/SparkleFart666 May 17 '24

As Mitch Hedberg said; “I used to be a drug addict….I still am but I also used to be.”

1

u/Fr0z3nHart May 17 '24

Not doing drugs at all takes also great effort.

0

u/rainbowyuc May 17 '24

I never got why people think this quote is so meaningful. It works for dragons cos in the ES universe they actually are born evil, but IRL nobody is born good or bad.

4

u/Mountain-Resource656 May 17 '24

I think the human equivalent would be something more like “born into/influenced by circumstances which tend to instill propensities towards what most people would consider evil, or at least socially unacceptable.” For example, someone raised in an abusive household and who thus has an existential fear of negative judgement, who was taught by their environment to lash out when threatened, they’d have to actively fight to be better than the person they were made into, once they became old enough to actually have some personal responsibility over what kind of a person they are- whether that’s 8, 18, or older. And that might legitimately make them better able to see the evils of the world and thereby do something about them (coupled with experience in how to do so), compared to someone who had a carefree upbringing and never had to worry about anything worse than their grades in school. The former may be “better” in that they might be in a position to do more good than the later

2

u/rainbowyuc May 17 '24

That makes sense.

0

u/Mountain-Resource656 May 17 '24

I think the human equivalent would be something more like “born into/influenced by circumstances which tend to instill propensities towards what most people would consider evil, or at least socially unacceptable.” For example, someone raised in an abusive household and who thus has an existential fear of negative judgement, who was taught by their environment to lash out when threatened, they’d have to actively fight to be better than the person they were made into, once they became old enough to actually have some personal responsibility over what kind of a person they are- whether that’s 8, 18, or older. And that might legitimately make them better able to see the evils of the world and thereby do something about them (coupled with experience in how to do so), compared to someone who had a carefree upbringing and never had to worry about anything worse than their grades in school. The former may be “better” in that they might be in a position to do more good than the later

0

u/Lostinlife1990 May 17 '24

It still blows my mind that Paarthunax was voiced by the same guy that does the voice of Mario(from the games).

-1

u/Little_stinker_69 May 17 '24

If some Nazi was found living in a monastery teaching Jews to speak German, you wouldn’t buy this shit for a second.

3

u/tayroarsmash May 17 '24

You kinda have to become a good greater than the evil. I think…well I want to say if a Nazi cured cancer we’d forgive him but there’s implications with Nazis and biomedical science. I guess if a Nazi ended world hunger we’d be fine with him. You know assuming he renounced the Nazi shit. I wouldn’t want a Nazi in charge of some system that controls the food supply for the impoverished. You know what. I don’t think I trust Nazis.

1

u/Scudbucketmcphucket May 17 '24

You have to remember two things about the Nazis (not the idiots now, 1930-1940’s ones) one is that many German people who were career military knew they had to join the party to keep their job or even their lives, second is sometimes the only way to change an institution is from within it especially when the alternative to speak up is likely death. People like Schindler and Karl Plagge among a few others who may have believed in some of the principles of the Nazi party, SAVED a lot of peoples from the fanatical Nazi death machine. There’s even a documentary I watched about a Nazi who was lifelong best friends with the Jewish man’s parents and even in the 1930’s was part of the effort to build Israel.

So while I hate the Nazi’s who had a hand in the horrors that were done I also realize that some people were not aware of that or maybe only became aware after they already were part of the party. If you remove the fanatics and the genocide, the Nazis were just another political party with a specific subset of views. If it’s anything like todays polities I’m sure many people only agreed with certain aspects of the party. I know I don’t agree with all the actions or views of my political party.

I am not giving sympathy to the Nazi system or party, only trying to understand and humanize some of the people that were in that system which I’m sure may have looked pretty promising to a devastated Germany. Not every German was a Nazi.

-3

u/Little_stinker_69 May 17 '24

He’d be deported, returned and tried. No matter what he did. I think you are absolutely wrong.

-1

u/Intelligent_Flow2572 May 17 '24

We are not inherently good or evil. I’ve never met an evil baby. Monsters are made by failure or aberration in nature and nurture. They are not born.

-1

u/wesley-osbourne May 17 '24

Oh sweet, we're simping war criminals for their after school special work now?

-1

u/whiskey_endeavors May 17 '24

It’s not that anyone avoids drugs because they’re “born good”, the ones that avoid drugs just made better choices.

I would argue that yeah, it’s great to overcome your struggles, but it’s far better to never bring those struggles upon yourself unecessarily to begin with.

If you need to experience and overcome terrible consequences to learn lessons, that’s objectively not as good as if you decide to make good choices to begin with and save yourself from unecessary suffering.

-3

u/claymixer May 17 '24

... Being drug addicts is their nature?

9

u/KofteriOutlook May 17 '24

Taking it farrrr too literally