Why can't everyone in the world just be nice to each other?

This is a legitimate question, why is it so hard for people to just be nice? Why do people have to be mean occasionally? I'm sorry if I don't live in the "real world" or you label me an idealist. But I never understood why people choose to be mean? And that is in all walks of life, in any spectrum, discussing any top, people just resort to low hanging insults when you don't agree. Yes even on Christian forums, when discussing politics I'd see vile things said about people like it's a toxic twitter thread, heck even discussing the Bible I've some insults and name calling and people just angry. I may have been that way in the past but it's really getting on my nerves every time I scroll through comment sections on any place. Even watching conversations in real life, it feels unnecessary to me. Why do some want to bully people, at school work, even at home. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were all just friends? I don't accept the notions that "it's life deal with it", I choose to believe we can all be better.

What triggered my rant? Honestly I just saw a video title of someone making fun of a politician and it just hit me randomly. It's one thing to tease, tongue and cheek but I know those types of videos just resort to "haha they suck, my people are better than you". I didn't want to make this political but my overall point stands, why can't we just be nice, wouldn't everything be better that way?

Jesus show righteous anger when it was warranted. When people try to defend killing babies by the millions, I get righteously angry.

Seriously, what do you expect? Man is born dead in trespass and sin. It is amazing when people are nice to each other, not when they are at war with each other. It will only get worse. No, mankind won't get better. If it was possible, no one would need Jesus. Jesus is the only hope of fallen man.

"My people are better than you" is basically the whole point. It makes you feel good if you can make yourself believe you are better than someone else. That's why people are deliberately mean to other people.

If I can find an excuse to put you down, that makes it possible for me to feel like I am better than you.

It's really selfish and I wish people would stop, because the bad lasts a LOT longer than the feeling that I'm better than you. If I use an insult to make myself feel better than you, I'll feel better than you for maybe half an hour. 32 years later you may still remember that insult and feel bad about it.

All questions are legitimate, but some answers are problematic.

Like Rodney King once said, during the riots in the 90's in LA "Why can't we all get along?"

The answer is problematic.

I believe that the best we can hope for (other than everyone coming to Jesus) is to change your own little corner of the world. Kindness is contagious. If you are kind to people, it is noticed, and many times, it is paid forward to others....

There have been commercials even, on TV, about just this subject. One person does something kind, and another person sees it, and when they have the opportunity to be kind, they do so... someone else sees it.... etc.

Very true... just change YOUR part of the world.

1) Because free will is a real thing. Not everybody chooses what is good. Satan sure didn't and many decide to go his way.

2) In fact, Satan is pervasive in his attempts to corrupt us by offering us some form of pleasure for sin. Pride would be the most obvious example, where we feel we are inherently more valuable or significant than others even if it's in how we see our shamefulness (that would be false humility which is actually a type of pride, BTW), but really there are a lot of types of corrupting influence that he offers us. Fear is another, less obvious example. The way the world goes after Halloween this time of the year shows how seemingly desirable fear can be. Really, why should we want pride or fear instead of the truth? In truth, there is no inherent reason to, so Satan adds his own twist to entice us.

3) Because even when people want to do better, we are in a fallen world. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it brought deception into the world. Deception (per tested prophecy) is any mixture of truth and error.

An example of this would be the way the world attempts to have compassion on people's sin-proneness by telling them that their behavior is fine (ex. LGBTQ). The truth there that sells the lie is that the people are valuable. The error is then in equating people with their behavior and not recognizing that the answer to sin-proneness is found in God changing us (Romans 7). They then see the truth speakers as the problem and go on the attack, thinking themselves more noble for doing so, though actually this is pride.


Also, technically we aren't called to be nice, we are called to be kind. What's the difference? Niceness is about giving somebody what they want, and is defined by feelings. Kindness is about giving them what they need and is defined by truth. Another way to say it is that a nice parent will give their kid a cookie; a kind parent will make them eat their vegetables.

As the song goes... "People are people so why should it be, You and i we get along so awfully..."

Because we are now imperfect people who are undermined by our fallen flesh nature we inherit from our ancestors but at lest we have Christians have hope of a future transition, upon the day of resurrection where we will be transformed into the Good beings many of us wish we could be now.. Today we can try our best and have some little victories along the way.. But then we shall be absolutely victorious for eternity with The LORD Jesus..

2 Timothy 3:1-4 NIV:

Godlessness in The Last Days

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—

Good reminder.

The plain and simple fact of the matter is that because of the Eden curse, two things happened. First, the world was corrupted...and second, so were we. Instead of living in harmony with each other and with God, we now had a self-serving ego, and a desire to prove we were morally superior to our fellow man. When we accept Christ, our spiritual redemption happens right away, but we must still struggle with the corruption both around and inside of us as fallen beings. Scripture refers to this as a conflict between the flesh and the spirit, and whichever one we feed on a regular basis gets stronger. God helps change us when we listen to and obey Him, but as the ultimate gentleman He will not force His ways on us, even in light of His love. Believe me, I struggle with so many things inside of my mind and heart every single day, to the point I often feel I'm losing my mind. And the only thing that really helps me sleep at night is knowing God is still there. I may be a walking rebel and mistake, but I'm still His adopted son, and that has to count for something.

because we all have free will & most are tempted to use it without thought & wisdom! also. most people want an immediate thrill now, not later.

Satan was the same way, not only turning traitor against God but convincing an entire third of his fellow angels to do the same thing. Regarding the human side of the equation, I like how apologist Frank Turek stated it: "Most people are not on a truth quest - they're on a happiness quest."