The Good

The extent to which the alignment system of 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons influenced my philosophy of the world is very nearly embarrassing, although the writings of Michael Moorcock helped too.  Good and Evil is a fine spectrum for some stories and some religions, but Law and Chaos are so much more interesting.



Part of the problem for me is the word "Good", because it's pretty hard to pin down exactly what we mean by it.  Evil et al have their own problems there, of course, but since attaining or maximizing The Good is typically the goal of a moral system, it should be better defined.  In everyday language there are several different grades of Good which it is amusing to contrast:

• "Try this X, it's good"  is typically followed by an offering of ice cream, chocolate, goat cheese on toast, or some other small item of great short-term excellence.
• "You should do X, it's good for you" usually involves a trade-off between long-term happiness and prosperity and short-term pain or discomfort, such that one needs to be motivated to see the overall goodness.  This makes me think of jogging for some reason.
• "I advise you to take X, it's good for your [favorite organ here]": I don't have nearly as much trouble with this one, especially if it's coming from a doctor I've dragged myself in to see.  I will seriously do anything a doctor says, partly because I believe in science, but mostly out of fear of pain.  This is despite the shocking fact that evidence-based medicine has been around for less than 200 years, i.e. before that doctors we just rooting around in people guided only by intuition and philosophy.  I do not find this... humourous?
• "You must perform X, for the good of society" often means you're about to be forcibly volunteered to build a bridge, or drafted.  I've always said that if the good of society requires that you go to a different continent to be shot at when you could just as easily be shot at back home, you should at least take a moment to consider the source.
• "You must perform X, for the good of humanity" is also less of a problem for me.  (What a difference a word makes, eh?)  To me this sounds more like someone who is trying to get you to work on a communal farm, or Habitat for Humanity, or some other endeavor with less danger to life and limb and a net positive-or-zero social impact.  Perhaps the distinction between this one and the last one mostly reveals my political biases, but hey, this is my blog.
• "I am gonna hit you so good" is just a complete lie.  The contrast between the literal meaning of the words and the tone, the upraised hand, and so forth, just makes the threat more threatening.  Kind of like the contrast between hot pie and cold ice cream, except with more welts.

These are all I can think of at the moment, and I think I'm out of food examples/metaphors too.  Did I miss any hilarious uses for the word of the day?