Saturday, November 8, 2008

What's So GOOD about this GOOD GUY anyway?

I think there's been a huge misunderstanding for the word Good Guy.
Has anyone ever defined this compound noun? Who exactly can be refer to as "Good Guy"? I've heard this "He's a good guy!" phrase over and over until today and I've honestly seen some real good fellas around. But the problem is strikingly hurting when it's used at the wrong time. When is that wrong time you might ask? Well I might not have a clear memory of a specific folk but I have encountered lots and lots of so-called good guys around.

There was this one time I was at a friend's and this old pal of his suddenly turns up after a decade. My friend goes: "Wow! I haven't seen this mate for quite a long time now! We were school friends and he went to Malaysia to continue studying. I'm so excited about seeing him. He's a good guy you know!" and I nod my head as I always have. I mean what other possibilities do I have left, ain't it? So here's how it goes:

  1. The good guy steps in without a greeting;
  2. He hardly shakes hands and shows no impression when being introduced;
  3. The good guy sits down and starts sending some text messages on his cell phone;
  4. My friend opens up a conversation on studying in Kuala Lumpur, the good guy gives brief answers;
  5. Brings out his cigarette case and starts smoking while staring at the yellow walls in front of him;
  6. I throw a couple of questions, waiting for imminent follow-ups: stop waiting!
  7. The good guy leaves without a trace. He's still good.

There are, in fact folks who have survived so far being tagged "Good" while they have accomplished taking drugs, cussing all their pathetic life times, divorcing, being in big amounts of debt, shouting their words out, being a complete asshole dumb-ass in various cases and etc.

What a wonderful world it can be where you can committ any possible low-live crime and activity and then people still call you a good guy. I'm sorry friends but I frankly don't believe in this non-sense. There are in fact some substitute words for particular good guys e.g. fuck-heads, assholes, losers, low-lives and hypocrites and probably (in rare cases) mofos but I'd rather not put them into words here.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every one is a good guy to some people and definitely a jerk to some others. This is inevitable in big scale cuz people's interests collide at some points and there is no way out of it.

But deep below all these layers of our fancy thoughtfulness, this is the most challanging part of our culture. Why do we always have to "define" every thing? By what sort of natural or super natural capability have we gained this ability that other creatures on this planet lack? There is no refference for measuring how good or bad something is outside our synthetic lives. This is just a nonsense terminology we've used for tens of centuries among ourselves and that is the first thing that converts us to such nonsense beings.

If there is one thing that makes a creature a "bad" creature, that one thing is being a human! (Thinking Humanly,) We sure are the worst thing that has ever happened on earth, and yet I doubt if any other animal has developed any sort of consiousness defining us as "bad bad bad bad!!!!!". Tell me if you know of any!

Dude, I'm so proud of you for questioning this matter. You have to come collect your book!

Pedram M. said...

@Pooy: That was the most thoughtful on my blog so far, thanks Pooy! And yes I should come get that book!

Pedram M. said...

"thoughtful comment", sorry!

Anonymous said...

I don't necessarily agree with Pouya's opening statement :P It is possible to be a good person through out your life and to everyone around you. Just because one's interest clashes with others it odes not mean they act like jerks towards each other. You can still keep it civil and act with decency, which is very uncommon these days, and stick to your values and you can be sure you are no jerk and truly a good guy. TROUBLE arises when one attempts to define words, it is all subjective and a matter of opinion and it give rise to complications or mis-labelling. and that bring me to another messed up concept... labelling, defining as pouya says. It seems also that people use words like "friends","good guy" (in your example lol i hardly ever hear it! people here just moan!,"love" and so on...all used too often, too often and too often and therefore, to me, carries no weight...to me that is the biggest 'sin'...using words lightly... nothing seem to annoy me more these days than meeting people who just open the mouth and yap yap yap :D I hope I made sense!!Keep up the blog posts :)

Pedram M. said...

@Mocha: I'm totally aware of that labeling syndrome Mocha and I can't say I don't agree with that. Especially when it concerns people's more private affairs (take one's sexual orientations for instance). But I still think "Good Guy" is definable to some extent. Adjectives like warm-blooded, honest, easy going, friendly and punctual are some good presumptions for a good guy.

Thanks for your well-thought comment.

Anonymous said...

It depends on how (far) you interpret all these adjectives Ped.

What would happen if a considerable percentage of people were "good guys", which indeed is true, and has been this way for a long time.

Listen up I wanna tell you a story, a story that is based on truth. ok?

Ok, we have a number of Warm-blooded, Honest, Easy going, Friendly (and whatsoever) creatures living together. It is year 10,000 B.C. They are dealing with a lot of problems, hunger, desasters, anything that can kill them. But they are very aware of those things and how "bad" those things are to their race.

What would a "Good Guy" do to be a Good Guy? Be kind with each other? hmmm. yeah...

Give hands to other people when they are in trouble (especially when it's a life or death emergency)?
yeah sure a good guy does that. Why the hell not!! That is definitely what a good guy does! and it has happened several times in history.

So as time goes by, the people of our story will go through many catasrophe's and they get out of it by help of each other. They are so very glad that they are such "good" people, they are never alone as long as they have each other.

What happens when a person (or a group of people) gets out of a very serious trouble?
yeah you're right! They Survive, and they will keep on helping the other people who most probably will get into serious trouble in the infinite future.

By year 1700A.D we have a lot of good people all hands in hands, living very very happily (at least according to their own point of view and compared to other -very similar- animals), there are many few things that can endanger them as long as they keep being this way, so they keep on... They grow wheat and raise sheep and cows, give it to others in exchange for security, clothes, entertainment and all other "good" stuff. Every body has everything this way. Now what happens when an animal gets enough food, security, and comfort? yes, all the "good" stuff.

ummm... well I guess nothing can be more fun than "copulating" when things are that good!

So they keep on doing the same for years and years, they take care of each other, and Fuck! They raise their kids, again with the help of each other and help them Fuck more. Sure they get into serious troubles some times, but they still keep helping each other. They have "bad" people in their society but they are always fighting with them, so the bad guys will eventually get extinct or they might as well be converted to good people, just like them. What matters is not that there are "bad" things happening to every generation, but the fact that every thing is moving towards being "good" is what matters.

They are some real good fellas, they help each other and fight with bad fellas and Fuck all the time. Generation by generation.

By year 2008, "good people" have accomplished a lot, they have brought 6 billion (fucking good) souls to their planet, they still have to deal with bad guys, some of them are in charge now and are leading horrible wars, but people are still fighting. They have over come nearly every desease. They all know they are not the happiest as they can be, but its alright as long as the main trends of being "good" is not broken.

The story ends here, since the rest has to be written by our people. But I guess it defines "good" and "bad" very well. To us humans, a good thing is what helps us survive. and everything else is bad. our planet in its perfect point from our point of view is gonna turn into a community of us, our food, and the food for our food. We're gonna kill off all the other "bad" creatures to get more space for us and our food, that mission is like half-accomplished by now. And It will accomplish in let's say. uh... well a lot less than two billion years thats for sure.

Oh what a perfect race of animals we are!

Does a reptile think we're "good"?

I don't think so.

So he thinks that we are bad?

Again, I don't think so. Reptiles are not "warm blooded" creatures after all...

Pedram M. said...

@Pooy: I'm totally convinced that goodness alters by time and civilization accordingly.

My writing was mostly about some people around me being referred to as good lads. That's all.

Thanks for the most comprehensive comment of all time.

Anonymous said...

Yeah I know, I was (more than) a bit off-topic. I just had to write something I guess. lol

Keep on being a "Good Guy" dude, but let's not be overtly good!

دیکلورانت said...

you know...
you`r a good guy Ped,
and i`m a good guy too !!!
they`r too !!!
and thank you Pouy for your lecture and story....
Ped i f i where you i put these on the blog... ;))