Doing Bad Things To Make Good Things Happen

I realize that I have had huge advantages that make it easier for me to live this way. Like, I'm neither trying to stop a terrorist or trying to survive despite oppression.

But I have seen many people do things they don't believe in to accomplish some career goal, to grow their business, or to make a bunch of money. They convince themselves of the good things that will allow them to do, but in the end they often seem quite sad.

I know this will not be the case for all people, and it is likely more the case for me because I'm a rich white guy, but I have found that being kind and thoughtful and empathetic is a fantastic way to create successful art as well as successful business. And I'm tired of seeing small business owners trying to learn their lessons from Fortune 500 CEOs like Steve Jobs.

Don't be Steve Jobs, he was amazing, but he was a dick. Be a human and treat humans like humans, because that's where the real work gets done.

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[vlogbrothers]

I've been wanting to make a video like this for a long time but I always felt like I had to qualify it too much. Like, I'm not trying to win a war, or keep my family alive. I'm just trying to make good things and put them on the internet.

I have so many advantages (race, gender, money, education) that make all of these things easier for me, so I feel bad being prescriptive. I don't really want this to be about how you should live your life, I just want it to be about how I want to live my life.

[swiftlymurmurs]

Apparantly, Hank was dangerously close to being an evil genius. Guess we really dodged a bullet with that one, didn't we?

[Orikron]

That's the ultimate moral question.
Do the ends justify the means?
Is it all worth it in the end?
At what point does it stop being acceptable?
Does pineapple actually belong on a pizza?

[weaselymidget]

You might like a quote from a YouTuber I watch. "Outrage may hang tyrants but it also burns witches." Vernaculis.

[Ecapsora]

My favorite quote about this line of thought is "A good deed, done in the name of evil, is still good. Likewise an evil deed, done in the name of good, is still evil."

[stocktonjoans]

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

[GenJotsu]

"If the entire world lived as if the Ends justify the Means, Then the Means in themselves are gonna be a terrifying End." Beautiful words, with an even better lesson.

[HoshiHikari]

This might be the video that made me realize I like Hank over John because I AM Hank among my John friends. We make each other better, too.

[LynxChan]

All ends don't justify all means, but some ends justify some means. Every choice is a cost-benefit analysis, and sometimes unfortunately a choice that is perfectly ethical just isn't on the table, and you have to choose the option that is likely to lead to the best outcome, accepting that you might screw it up royally in the process. Grownup life is hard like that.

[colinplaisance]

Don't ever stop doubting the little things you are doing that makes humanity work. I look back and think of how many times you've kept this human going

[youratowel]

"I've praised ideas above reality." Ahh. I'm a young person struggling with that.

[philiptouw]

This is so important. This is what I came here for. Thank you, Hank. I'm glad to see you so heavily contemplating such "deep" topics like this. This channel is always reminding me to try to be a consistently good person, and to always be working and changing.
On Another Note, That dear hank and john reference right there!

[Bee-nwdf]

I remember watching this video when it came out, and it really impacted the way I saw the world. Coming back to it three years later, it still holds up as one of my favorite YT videos, & reminds me why vlogbrothers is so meaningful to me.

[LisaMichele]

"This thing doesn't exist" YESSS. Spot on! Future outcomes are never guaranteed, and we should live (and do good) in the present, for the sake of living and doing good in the present. You sound like a Buddhist, actually. :)

[horsetodd]

We should never think of other people as our pawns, or as the pawns of others, or of power. However, this means acknowledging people as active players who sometimes choose willingly to do bad things, in their own name or in the name of power. We should have empathy for those who seek to do bad things, but if you stand by and allow someone to do bad things, you are only lacking empathy for their victims.
Thank you for this very insightful video, Hank. There is not always a clear answer to these questions, but when we struggle for one, it is because we care.

[pirate]

3:38 This really reminded me of Gandalf's words in The Hobbit: “Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."

[nerdlife]

Well Dumbledore was incredibly manipulative and horrible sometimes and everything worked out! But as always Hank, you're right. Great video!

[adamschnacker]

I love this. It reminds of some words from Christopher Dawson: "As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy."

[Emelenzia]

That was a wonderful list. To add someone to it.

One big reason I am against Authoritarianism when it comes to positive progress is even if you obtain the change you desire, the only way to keep that change is to always maintain that fist (power). One violence is no longer looming over head, once you lose control of that power, things often will revert back to what they were. So real change can never be done through violence. It must be a slow, gradual, cultural change. Very much as Hank says, million of small peaceful nudges. These tiny nudges will have a far more lasting impact then change via authoritarian violence.

[anushkasikdar]

Their is no other way to say this: I am deeply in love with Hank Green, I am in love with his way of talking, his logic, his life, his person. Hank Green is not only someone who I admire but someone who I love and support. Go nerdfightera!